The Tower Fortress
by Leo Starr
Summary: The stranded animals have their hands full with homesick Alex, whose antisocial behavior finally lands him in a heap of trouble. The gentle, ex zoo castaways find they must rally together as warriors in what becomes a survival of the fittest situation.
1. Misunderstandings

_Disclaimer_: This story is a work of fan fiction based on the _Madagascar movie_; it was done for fun and personal enjoyment, not for profit or compensation of any kind. I do not own _Madagascar_ or its characters; they are the property of the talented folks at _DreamWorks Animation SKG_, their creators. No infringement of the owner's rights is intended. The actions of the characters in this storyline do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the original creators.

_Updates_: Expect new chapter updates approximately once each month. This is a minimum, it may be more frequent than that depending on my available time to write.

_Timeframe and Setting Intro_: This story begins several days after the point at which the original movie ended. The huge powerless cargo ship rests beached on the shore, and the animals remain stranded for the present.

* * *

It was about 10:00 a.m. on the island of Madagascar and the sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky, warming the ocean water and making the beach sand almost too hot to walk on. Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe were staying cool in the shade under Marty's hut. The two of them had been watching the clouds drift by, and Gloria was now studying a passing cumulus cloud which looked a lot like a lion's face and mane, reminding her of Alex. Marty the zebra had temporarily left their company to go looking for his absent lion friend, in hopes he might be able to cheer him up. Gloria broke away from her trance in the clouds and turned to face Melman. 

"I saw that cloud you were looking at," Melman said. "You're thinking about him, aren't you?"

"You're pretty observant, Melman," she replied. "Maybe I should go check on Marty; he's been gone for a while now."

"He's probably finally having a good long talk with Alex," Melman suggested.

"I'd like a word or two with that cranky lion myself," she shot back. "He's been ignoring us for days now. Marty is so upset."

"Well, you know how we had Alex so hyped up about sailing home, and then it didn't happen. We all but promised him. We were all disappointed, but you know how upset he was-"

"Yeah, I know, but it's getting ridiculous," said Gloria emphatically. "He's hurting his best friend, not to mention us. I'm tired of seeing Marty so sad. Alex never behaved like this at the zoo!"

"We're not at the zoo anymore," Melman added.

"No, we're not," agreed Gloria, standing up. "I better go check to see if Marty's all right. This island isn't the safest place, you know." Gloria stepped out of the shade and hopped and danced across the hot sand, until she got to the edge of the forest. She looked back and waved goodbye to Melman, then turned and headed down the jungle trail she had seen Marty take.

* * *

Alex the lion knew he was being selfish with his isolationism, but didn't care at the moment. "So what?" he said outloud. He was mopey and irritable, quite beside himself. The past week had been a rollercoaster of events for him and his friends, including misunderstandings, rejection, fighting, dealing with wild instincts, and life and death struggles. Then the final blow: the cargo ship, which was his grand ticket of hope of returning to New York City, did not have fuel to make the promised voyage. This piece of vital but depressing information was discovered, of all times, just before attempting to launch. So now that plan was buried in the litter box. 

Prior to this last letdown, he had reluctantly considered the possibility of accepting his new life in the wild on Madagascar, perhaps finding a new purpose in looking out for his friends' safety. Thanks to the penguins, who were experienced fisherman by nature, he now had food to eat- it wasn't steak, but it was real meat, and quite tasty. Alex didn't like the water or the sand, but couldn't bring himself to say he hated the island, as it really was a tropical paradise. And running wild in the open expanses of grassy fields did indeed satisy inner cravings he was just beginning to discover. But then, thoughts of the zoo came back and he couldn't think about anything else.

Upon their initial arrival on the island, Alex had been very angry at Marty the zebra, who was his best friend, for getting them all kicked out of the zoo. In fact, he had been ready to beat the crap out of him over it. "You ruined me, Marty!! You bit the hand!!" he had yelled. But that is a story in itself. Although he had since 'made up' with his zebra friend, a melancholy mood now settled over him whenever he thought back on his wonderful life at the Central Park Zoo. And that was the direction his mind was taking today.

He missed the luxurious electric sunlamp just above his bed. He missed the daily, delicious meals of steak catered to him, which he might never taste again. He missed all the fuss and tender loving care his groomers gave him. But above all, he missed the admiration that was once his- admiration from people, who were the ones in charge of everything running this world. Even in this age of fantastic entertainment technology- high definition home theater systems, computers, and video games- the live animal world was still found fascinating by the people. He was a big shot, the King of Central Park Zoo, and was respected and treated as such by all, both man and fellow beast.

Daily, Alex the lion had put on an enthusiastic show at the zoo, with lots of hoopla to accompany him- and it wasn't really a circus act, as he was the ringmaster here. The park visitors loved him. In fact, he didn't even have to do much to get their attention- if he just stood there he was adored. Alex was good looking and he knew it, and was very proud of himself. He loved the exhilaration of showing off and getting such positive reactions from the crowd. On a regular basis he made money for the zoo, which sold a variety of merchandise with the lion's trademark on it. He was a success story in a win-win living situation; his needs were relatively simple and well provided for, and the zoo profited.

But, all that was now in the past, and not by his own choice. Alex had never wanted to leave. He knew his fans probably missed him. He certainly missed them, and wondered what misinterpreted explanations the media had told them about his transfer.

In their last weeks there at the zoo, Marty the zebra was the one who was getting depressed, with increasing obnoxious behavior. He wanted to experience living in the wild, and yearned for it. Well, he got his wish, ending up on the beautiful island of Madagascar... along with his three closest friends. And, unlike his friend Alex the lion, he was quite content to stay there.

* * *

There in the forest, not too far away, Alex sat in a clearing staring into blank space, homesick, lonely, and feeling sorry for himself. He sniffled and wiped his eyes with his paw, unaware of Marty's cautious approach. When the zebra got closer, a twig snapped and Alex suddenly noticed him there. "Geez!" he exclaimed in surprise, jumping. Ashamed of his tears, the lion turned himself around and sat down with his back facing Marty. "Do you mind?" he said to his striped friend in an irritated tone. "I wanted to be alone for a while." 

"Yeah, I noticed," replied Marty, disappointed. "But for a day and a half?"

"Yeah, well, I've been busy," muttered the lion, looking at the ground.

"Really? Well we sure haven't- the three of us, that is. We haven't done much of anything. So what have you been doing?"

"Stuff," Alex vaguely responded, picking up his tail and playing with the fuzzy tassel at the end.

"Oh." About half a minute of silence followed, then Marty continued. "We've missed you at dinnertime. Have you had any breakfast?"

"I didn't feel like eating," Alex answered, trying to evade the question.

"Not wise, not wise my friend. I mean, you know what happens when you get too hungry."

"I'm all right, I'll get something later."

"I see," said Marty, unconvinced. "Well, we all miss you Alex. I miss you. It's not the same without you."

Alex didn't say anything, he just sat there and kept fiddling with his tail. So Marty pushed to continue the conversation.

"I'm bored, Alex. Can't we please play some tag together, or go for a run, or maybe even swing on some of those vines again? It'll make you feel better, I know it will! And me too."

"What about Melman and Gloria? Don't you ever play with them?"

"I did play with them," he said, "just this morning. But they won't play wild... not like you."

"Look Marty, I just want to be alone right now, okay? I'm not good company."

"Alex?" Marty asked pathetically, in an almost choking voice. "I gotta know something. Do you still like me? Am I still your friend?"

Alex stopped fiddling with his tail and dropped it. Feeling the weight of Marty's question, his mood began to change. He got up, turned around, and faced his companion, realizing how much his solitude was affecting the others. "Aww, Marty...," he said compassionately, opening his arms wide. He reached out and embraced the zebra in a loving hug. "Of course... you're my _best_ friend!"

"And you're mine!," said Marty in a sigh of joyous relief, relishing the lion's warm hug. "I really needed to hear that, Alex. I was beginning to wonder."

"I just wanna be back at the zoo," Alex explained. "I'm sorry I've been acting like such a jerk again." He reassured the zebra by giving him a squeeze. "And just so you know, I've missed you too."

"Really?" Marty asked, now a bit teary-eyed himself.

The lion released him and nodded, smiling.

"Okay, Alex, I'll let you have some time for yourself," Marty said, slowly turning to leave. "I wanted to cheer you up, but you told me what I needed to hear. If you want to join us later, you know where to find me."

"Listen Marty, I have to tell you something." The zebra turned back around, concerned, with ears perked up, listening attentively. Alex paused and looked around as if he was making sure no one else was there to overhear. He bent closer as if he was going to whisper something, but then said emphatically, "You're it!!" Then he smacked Marty on the butt and took off.

A big smile spread across Marty's striped face and he broke into a gallop after his best friend. "I'm gonna get you!!" he yelled happily.

Marty's positive influence was off to a good start; as he ran, Alex started smiling, leaving his woes behind. At first, the two friends ran around and chased each other in a spirited game of tag, but then their play became increasingly wild and rough. Although he didn't try it, Alex got a little carried away and accidentally hit Marty across the muzzle, knocking him to the ground. His claws were not extended, but he had hit him pretty hard. And, to make matters worse, just when Gloria came into the clearing to witness the deed.

Alex put a paw over his mouth. He felt awful and knelt down to his dizzy friend. "Marty, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- are you okay?"

Gloria stood there glaring at Alex with her hands on her hips. "Tell me I didn't just see you punch that zebra in the face!" she said angrily.

Alex stood up stammering, "It was- I didn't- I-"

"Your best friend!" Gloria yelled at him, pushing him aside as she walked over to the fallen zebra.

Marty was still down for the count and couldn't get up, though he was trying. Alex got down on all fours and bent down again to his friend. "Marty! Are you-"

"Just leave him alone!" Gloria scolded. "Haven't you done enough already?"

Already under emotional distress before all of this, Alex's eyes welled up with tears, and he ran off bawling and disappeared. Marty just lay there, panting. A minute or so later, his senses finally came to, and Gloria helped him up.

"Thanks Gloria," he said, still seeing stars, "but I wish you hadn't said that to him. It was an accident."

"Mmm hmmm," she said, unconvinced. "Right. And so we're just gonna look the other way and forget it, so he can just slap you around anytime he gets in one of these rotten moods? It wasn't your fault that the boat won't run..."

"No!" Marty pleaded, "that isn't what happened. We were playing together, having a great time. He hit me accidentally. Believe me! I'm not just covering for Alex, I'm telling the truth! He wasn't mad, and he wasn't trying to hurt me. No matter how it must have looked, it was an accident!"

Gloria could tell by the look in Marty's eyes that he was telling the truth. She looked away for a moment to think about the ordeal, starting to feel regret. Reviewing what she had seen, she defended herself, justifying her actions; with recent events and all, Alex had soiled his reputation and unwittingly set himself up. But she still felt bad about the hasty way she had judged and reacted toward the lion friend she had known for so many years. Especially knowing that he was already down emotionally. "Poor Alex," she thought. "He's really such a sweetie- somehow, I have to make it up to him... if I can."

Marty was nauseous and had trouble walking, so Gloria helped steady him on their way back to the beach. Lunchtime came and went, also suppertime. Alex was the main topic of conversation, when there was any at all. The beautiful day seemed to drag on purposelessly for Marty, and for Melman and Gloria as well.

Alex remained gone for the rest of the day, and, for the first time, did not return to Marty's hut at bedtime. None of them dared venture into the forest searching at night. Poor Marty went to bed alone that night, worried, hoping his friend was all right and that he would return to them soon. It didn't take long for the exhausted zebra to cry himself into a deep sleep. He really needed a friend, but had asked to be alone. So Gloria hung out with Melman on the far end of the beach under the shimmering starlight, reviewing the day's events and pondering how to fix them.

"Tomorrow," she said to Melman, "we must find Alex, first thing. And get this whole mess straightened out." Melman nodded and rested his head on her shoulder.


	2. Dr Marty, DC

Gloria the hippo stepped through the thick green tropical forest, pushing through the dense leaves and brushing them aside. Looking for Alex the lion, she had gotten lost, and wasn't sure which way to go next. She stopped and looked up at the fragmented part of the sky that was visible above the rain forest's canopy; that was no help. Gloria felt sure that Melman the giraffe was still somewhere not too far away, and she could just call out and he'd come and find her. Splitting up had expanded their search by covering more area, but now she was lost, too. A few minutes later and no closer to recognizing anything, she called out for her long-necked friend. "Melman! It's Gloria! Melman, where are you?" 

No answer. That was disheartening. Feeling a little paranoid, Gloria started turning around and around in her disorientation and growing fear. She was walking backwards when she tripped over something and fell to the ground. When she turned onto her right side to get up, she saw a face looking at her in among the jungle brush. "AAAAA!" she screamed out of sudden fright.

"Alex? There you are! Good Lord, Alex, you gave me a scare," said Gloria, putting her hand to her chest and breathing a sigh of relief. "I was lost, but- ... Alex?" The great lion didn't speak, but just lay there along side of her, staring at her blankly.

"Alex? Don't look at me like that! Are you all right?" she asked him, dragging herself off of his foreleg, which she had tripped over in the underbrush, and which felt unusually still. His open eyes didn't blink, and didn't follow her. "Alex?" she asked one last time in a fading voice. A feeling of dread rose inside Gloria as she nervously reached out to touch her lion friend. There was no response, no movement. Something was seriously wrong with Alex.

"Is he... oh- my- God!" she said to herself, drawing back and continuing to drag herself away. "Oh my God, it can't be!" Gloria stood and fell again, then got up and held on to a tree in a state of shock. "Melman!" she cried out. "Marty! ... Help!!" She looked around in all directions before being overwhelmed with fear and closing her eyes. In absolute panic she tried to scream, but little if any sound came out.

Then Gloria heard the sound of rushing water on the beach, and sea birds. Disoriented, she opened her bleary eyes, squinting to an early, brilliant sunlit day. "Whew!," she said out loud in great relief. "It was only a dream! I'm not lost, and we're all still here! What a horrible dream." Melman was some distance away tending a fire he had made while watching the sunrise, so he hadn't heard her calling out in her sleep.

"We should all eat together this morning," Gloria thought. "We've just gotta find Alex right away." She was so thankful the bad experience had just been a nightmare, and was very much looking forward to seeing Alex at breakfast, alive and well.

* * *

Lying in his hut, Marty gently awoke to the same peaceful beach sounds that pulled Gloria out of her bad dream. With head lifted but eyes still closed, he decided he would lie there for several more minutes before getting up for the day, meditatively listening to the ocean waves splashing ashore. "I just love the wild," he thought. But then he heard another sound coming from behind which was music to his ears... a breathing sound. Alex? It was indeed. His best friend had come back sometime during the night, and was lying next to him. Marty smiled with his eyes still closed, so glad to have his friend back, but then his peaceful trance was interrupted by a groan and a whimper. Now wide awake, Marty opened his eyes and turned his head around to see Alex roll over, and heard him whimper again. "Alex?" the zebra gently spoke to his friend. "I'm so glad you're back. Are you okay?"

"No," groaned the tormented lion.

Something was definitely wrong. "Bad dream?" asked the zebra with growing concern for his friend.

"Dream... ha! I didn't... even sleep at all."

"Aww, it's okay, Alex; I explained it all to Gloria. She just lost her temper; she knows it was just an accident."

"No... it's not that," moaned Alex, tearing up.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Marty asked, noticing that Alex's fur was dirty, unkempt and ungroomed. "Please tell me."

"My neck... it hurts... it just won't stop," cried Alex tearfully. "I can't sleep!"

The zebra got up, stretched, then bent down to his friend, looking him over. "My God, Alex, what did you do to yourself?"

Somehow, Alex had fallen from a high place and landed wrong; that was the most information Marty could get out of him for the time being. "I'm going to help you, buddy," he whispered to his unhappy lion friend. "Stay here and I'll be right back."

Marty galloped over to Melman, who was stoking the coals of his fire by poking at them with a stick. "Good morning!" he greeted the giraffe, in his usual, cheery, upbeat mood. Marty seemed to bring a positive atmosphere with him wherever he went, which was good medicine for Melman, as the giraffe often did the opposite with his hypochondria. Melman returned the greeting, but could tell something was up. Marty had been depressed and now all of a sudden he was perky and uptight for some reason.

"Something's wrong... isn't it?" Melman questioned. "What's going on?"

"Listen Melman, I need your help," said Marty, panting. "I don't have a fire going right now, and I need one right away. Here's a rock; I'm going to find a few more to bring to you. Please heat them in your fire for me, okay?"

"Hot rocks?" Melman asked.

"Yes. And then please bring them over to my hut when they're ready. Carry them using a makeshift net of several layers of those giant leaves- you know which ones I mean? I know you won't have any problem reaching them.""

"Sure, Marty, but-" Melman didn't even get his question started before Marty took off to look for some more rocks. He found some nice medium sized ones in the water, smooth and elliptical shaped. He dropped them off with Melman, and then galloped back to his hut to see what could be done for Alex.

"I'm back!" Marty announced as he returned to his miserable, whimpering lion friend. "Don't worry," he said, "Dr. Marty is gonna fix you up just fine. Roll onto your belly, please." Alex slowly and painfully pushed himself from lying on his left side to lying on his belly. Marty gently pulled Alex's tail to straighten it, then took a hold of the lion's quivering hind legs. "Try to relax, Alex," Marty said, pulling Alex by the hind legs to straighten out his body.

"Owww!" The lion let out a roar of pain as his body was pulled, and then lay there crying audibly.

"Alex?" Gloria said out loud to herself, sitting in the ocean waves on the far end of the beach. Though some distance away, she could tell it was a cry of pain. Alarmed, she started heading over toward the direction of the sound.

When Melman arrived with his delivery of hot rocks, he was glad to see that Alex had returned to them. But he was surprised to find Marty sitting straddled on Alex's lower back. "Not interrupting anything, am I?" said the giraffe, wondering what was going on.

"That isn't funny, Melman," Marty said.

"Sorry," he said, sensing something was wrong. "Here, I brought your rocks."

Marty felt the heat radiating from the pile of rocks lying next to him. "Oh, the rocks. Good! Thanks! These will do great. Could you please heat up a few more just in case?"

"Uhh... okay," said Melman, noting poor Alex's pathetic look and tearful face. Melman didn't know what to think. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

"You're doin' it," Marty answered.

Melman stared at Alex for a few seconds then left, stopping to pick up a couple of choice rocks on the way. He got back to his fire pit just as Gloria arrived there also.

"Good morning, Melman," she greeted her tall friend, almost out of breath from her brisk walk. "What's happening? Was that Alex I just heard?"

"Good morning, Gloria," replied the giraffe, "and yes, Alex is back."

"Why is he cry- ...what are those for?" she asked, noting the rocks Melman was holding.

"Marty wants them; he wants me to-"

"Well, is Alex all right?" Gloria asked with growing impatience.

"I don't know. He doesn't look very well."

"That's terrible!" Gloria's expression changed to disappointment. "I was hoping we could all have breakfast together this morning," she explained.

"I don't know what's going on yet Gloria, but I think it's pretty safe to say that Alex won't be joining us for breakfast," said Melman.

"Why not??" Gloria said emphatically as she turned away and started heading in the direction of Marty's hut. "Somebody's got to find out!"

"Wait!" Melman called after her. "Maybe you shouldn't bother him right now."

"I want to see Alex!" she yelled back, continuing to walk with determination.

* * *

"Alright you king of beasts," Marty said as he massaged Alex's back, "You gotta relax! Let the tension go!" He gently chopped at the lion's shoulder muscles, then ran his hooves up the lion's spine all the way to his head, kneading the muscles as he went.

"Owww!" yelled Alex again. Marty felt Alex's neck, carefully going over each vertebrae until... that was it! A lower neck vertebrae, or two, was out of place.

"No wonder you're in such pain, my friend!" the zebra concluded. One at a time, he picked up the smooth, heated rocks and placed them on the lion's neck, lining both sides of the spine. Some of them were buried deep under the lion's magnificent mane, which helped to keep the heat in.

The rocks almost burned against Alex's skin, yet at the same time, the heat actually felt good. The spasms began to diminish, and the tightness in his left shoulder and neck muscles softened. Marty continued his wonderful massage up and down the lion's back for several minutes, taking away tension and giving the rocks some time to do their job. Finally Marty said, "All right, Alex, you're ready." He laid down on top of the lion, reaching his right foreleg around the lion's neck, lifting his head slightly. Alex had a frightened, unsure expression on his face. "You're my best friend, Alex," said the zebra gently into the lion's fuzzy right ear. "You have to trust me now, okay? This is gonna feel wierd. Do you trust me?"

Alex felt extremely vulnerable and uncomfortable, but grunted an affirmative "mmm-hmm" reply to the question.

"Good," said Marty. "Now stay relaxed. Here we go..." Marty tightened his grip around Alex's neck, and placed his left hoof strategically on the troubled spot. Then he took a big breath and, putting his zebra muscles to work, heaved... then heaved again... and then once more. Click! Ka-Pop! Pop!

"AAAA!" Alex let out another roar as a momentary jolt of pain zapped him. Gloria was just about to Marty's hut when she heard the cry, and stopped in her tracks.

Then, Alex was in heaven. A wonderful tingly sensation rushed through the lion's neck and down his spine, all the way to the tip of his tail. The pain, which he had endured for the last 12 hours, was gone! And the heated rocks on his neck were putting him to sleep.

"How do you feel now?" whispered Marty into his friend's ear.

"Oh... Marty... I feel... wonderful!" he said through his teeth, not budging. "Thank... you! I don't... wanna move. Ahhh!"

"Great! You just lie here nice and still. I'll leave you alone for a while now so you can get some sleep."

"Thank you... Marty," grunted Alex through his teeth.

Just outside, Gloria stood wide-eyed, not knowing what was going on. In a way, she felt maybe she didn't want to know what was really going on, as her bad dream was invading her thoughts again. She could see two tasseled tails protruding just around the corner, a long tan one on the ground, and a black and white one twitching above it. She thought that looked odd. "Well, Marty's with him," she thought, pausing to contemplate. "Maybe Melman was right. Maybe I shouldn't be intruding right now. If something is wrong Marty'll let us know. I'll just leave and come back later."

However, concern and curiosity got the best of Gloria's better judgment. She decided to crash the party anyway, boldly stepping around the corner to make her presence known. Like Melman, she was surprised to find Marty lying on Alex's back. "Marty?" she said firmly, crossing her arms. "Just exactly what is it that you're doing there with Alex?"

The abrupt arrival scared Marty, taking him by surprise. His right foreleg was stuck underneath the heavy lion's neck and he scrambled in an unsuccessful attempt to sit up, stammering in response to the rashly asked question. He breathed in wrong and started to choke on a drop of his own saliva, coughing uncontrollably in between every other word. "Gloria? -cough!- Hi. -cough!- I'm... -cough! cough!- ...he's... -hack!- ...uh-"

"Alex?" she interrupted, noticing that he wasn't moving at all... just like in the bad dream which was still reeling fresh in her mind. "Marty?" she asked the coughing, tongue-tied zebra, her concern now turning to worry. "Marty, what have you done to him?"

Alex was so relaxed that it looked like he wasn't breathing. "Gloria?..." Alex grunted through his teeth without moving his jaw. "Is... that... you?"

"Oh my God! Alex! What happened?"

"Mar..ty...cracked... my neck," breathed Alex.

Gloria looked at Marty again, in disbelief, and then she noticed he was holding a rock.

The dream. The lion. The rock. It was all too much. Gloria freaked out. She started backing away, then turned around and took off towards Melman. Still trapped by Alex's neck, Marty called after her, but she kept running away.

"No! This can't be happening," she said out loud to herself as she ran. "Poor, dear Alex! This just can't be happening!!"

"What's wrong?" Melman asked as she approached, dreading the possibility of more bad news.

"Marty's flipped," she said, out of breath. "He bashed Alex over the head with a rock, and broke his neck!!"

"I don't believe it," Melman replied, shocked, with a confused look on his face. "But he did want these rocks for something..."

Marty, after great effort, finally freed his leg from under the snoozing lion's neck. "Crap!" he said to himself, standing up. "Now what's going on?" Marty began heading toward Melman's fire pit.

"I still don't believe it, Gloria," insisted the giraffe, holding his fire poker. "You said that-"

"Oh no, here he comes!!" spouted the paranoid hippo. "He's coming for us!! Run!! Run!!"

Normally cool and calm Gloria's state of panic was contagious, and Melman's heart rate began pounding with a tinge of fear. In the interest of self-preservation, he figured it best to run first and ask questions later. The giraffe took off toward the refuge of the jungle forest, passing Gloria and dropping his smoldering poker stick. Gloria, who was considerably slower, could hear Marty's hoof beats getting closer as he was catching up. "Wait up guys!," called Marty. Losing the race, Gloria picked up the smoldering stick Melman had dropped and hurled it at Marty, hitting him on the head (which was almost the same thing she had yelled at Alex for the day before). "Ouch!" Marty stopped in his tracks, stunned, then covered his head with his hooves to avoid a shower of stones that were also heading his way.

When it was safe to look up, he saw that his friends had deserted him and disappeared into the forest. "What did I say? What did I do?" Marty sadly asked out loud, puzzled and hurt by his friends' bizarre reaction. He walked over to the now untended fire pit and found two rocks heating in there, just as he had requested. He knocked them out of the fire with the poker stick that had been thrown at him, wrapped them in three layers of leaves, then headed back to his hut, confused and upset with a charcoal smear on his head.

Marty carefully replaced two of the cooler rocks on Alex's neck with the fresh hot ones he had brought. He gently stroked and petted the sleeping lion's mane, listening to him breathing peacefully amid the background sound of the ocean waves. "Well, at least Alex still likes me," he thought. Then Marty left to let Alex get some rest, and he wandered off into the forest by himself.


	3. Life is Good

It was well past noon when Alex the Lion awoke in Marty's hut, all by himself. He briefly sat up to shake the rocks off his neck and out of his mane, then lay down again and rolled over on his back. Alex stretched and kicked his back legs, squirming around on the sand, then started laughing for no apparent reason. His body felt so good, and though his neck was a bit bruised, it still felt better than normal. The giddy lion rolled over and got up, stretching and yawning. He felt so happy he just had to let out a roar. "_Roar!_" went Alex. He felt so good he did it again. "_Roar!_"

That got everyone's attention. Melman and Gloria were still hiding from Marty, and were on the lookout for him, just inside the edge of the forest. They were surprised to hear Alex at all, let alone such a powerful roar. They came out into the open to investigate and discuss the situation.

"Alex is still over there suffering," said Gloria. "What can we do to help him?"

"That didn't sound like a roar of pain to me," said Melman. "Actually, it sounded kind of happy."

Alex stepped out of Marty's hut, stretched again, and looked around. He looked down at himself in the sun, at his dirty body and ungroomed fur. "I'm a mess," he said to himself, "but I feel so good right now I don't even care. Who freakin' cares! The grooming can wait." Alex looked around again, spotting Gloria and Melman way over by the edge of the forest.

"_Where's that zebra at?_" Alex thought to himself, starting to head over towards them. "_He's just the best friend there ever was._" Alex began strutting along with a spring in his step, swinging his tail behind him as he walked, with a big smile on his face. "Marty, you're the best," he said out loud as he marched.

"He's walking, Gloria," Melman said to her. "He's heading this way."

"Impossible," said Gloria, now very confused. "I can't believe it!"

Alex let another roar slip out. "Yah! Yah!" he exclaimed, punching the air with his fists as he strode along. "Yeah, uh-huh, I'm lean and I'm mean! Well, no... actually I'm not mean, not today." Alex was getting closer to the now barely smoldering fire pit. "I LOVE YOU, WORLD!" he screamed out loud. "GIVE ME A HUG!!" Alex took a belly flop into the sand, spreading his arms and legs out wide on the ground, giving the world a hug. Now he was even dirtier than before. Alex's silly behavior was kind of embarrassing, but he didn't care.

"He fell, Melman, look!" stated Gloria. "He needs help!"

"Looked to me like he did it on purpose," observed Melman. "But he does appear to be having convulsions. Let's go over and find out what's really going on."

They went over to him and found him laughing and making 'snow angels' in the sand. Alex suddenly sprang up and did a backflip, spraying sand in Gloria's face. Melman's height saved his face from the shower.

"Sorry about that, guys," Alex said with a big smile, still giggling, brushing some of the sand off his chest and furry belly. He looked straight up into the sky, then rolled his head around, first in one direction, then the other. "Ah, life is good!"

"I thought you said his neck was broken, Gloria," Melman said a bit sarcastically. "Doesn't look broken to me!"

"Alex, you told me that Marty cracked your neck!" stated the puzzled hippo.

"Yeppers, sure did. Man, is he good. Fixed my neck up just fine." Alex rolled his neck again. "So where is my zebra buddy?"

The blatant realization of the truth came forth, and Gloria felt like an idiot. Melman frowned at her, then closed his eyes and shook his head with an _I can't believe you did that_ expression on his face.

"Hey guys, is Julien having another party tonight?"

"I think so," said Melman.

"Yeah, bay-bee, I'm ready!" said Alex enthusiastically. "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it..." Alex stepped about, rhythmically flexing his body to the music in his head.

"Save it for the dance floor, hot stuff," Melman suggested, rolling his eyes to avoid looking at the lion's erotic dance moves.

Alex made a grand ending to his little dance, sliding in towards Gloria on bended knee with his arms out wide. "Ta-da! Hey guys! So where's Marty, huh? Where's my striped buddy, my favorite zebra? Huh? Huh?"

Gloria stood there speechless, still in kind of a humiliating shock. So Melman spoke up. "We saw him early this morning," he confessed, "but we haven't seen him since. I think he took off somewhere." Melman didn't tell Alex what they had done. He felt bad about the whole thing, but somewhat consoled himself in that at least _he_ hadn't thrown stuff at Marty.

"Okay, I guess I'll just have to look for him then," said Alex. "I'm gonna get some fish for lunch first... mmmm! See ya later guys, at the party if not before! Have a grrreat day!" Alex walked off swinging his hips again to an unheard rhythmic beat, swishing his tail behind him.

"Now that's the Alex I remember," said Melman.

"Uh... well... he sure is feeling good today," Gloria finally uttered.

"Yes, he certainly is," frowned Melman, bending down to look her in the eye. "He certainly is."

"Oh, Melman," cried Gloria, the tears starting to flow, "I've done it again. I've done it again!"

* * *

After lunch, Alex walked up the forest trail to the clearing where he liked to go to spend time alone. He found Marty there, with a downcast face. Instead of a gentle approach, he burst right in. "Excuse me, sir, but did you happen to see a zebra pass this way?"

Marty looked up with a blank expression, then looked back down without answering.

"He looks like a striped horse, black and white, with a mohawk mane, and with a tassel at the end of his tail... sorta like this," continued Alex, holding up his own tail. "Oh, and he's really handsome, too; he'd win first prize... well, for the zebras... of course, I'd win for the best-looking animal."

"Hi Alex," Marty said, deliberately trying not to smile. "Feeling better?"

"Marty, I feel great! I can't stop laughing. I didn't know you were into massage therapy!"

"Well, it just kinda comes naturally," Marty answered. "Plus, I studied the doctors when they were making chiropractic adjustments on Melman's neck. Not a whole heck of a lot else to do at the zoo, you know."

"Well, you're great!" Alex said, taking hold of Marty's neck and giving him a hug. "I can't thank you enough, buddy. Once again, you were there for me; what a pal." He started to giggle again, releasing the zebra and giving him a pat on the neck. "Oh man, Marty, I wish I could give some of my cheer to you... why are you looking so down? Did I do any-"

"No, Alex, no, you didn't do anything wrong, but thanks for asking." Marty paused a few seconds, then decided to tell his best friend what was bothering him. "It's the others. Gloria's pissed off at me for some reason."

"Pissed?" Alex laughed. "You never use that word! Is this a first?" Marty was not amused at his reaction. "I'm sorry, Marty, I just feel so good, I have to- sorry, please continue."

"Okay. This morning, I had just adjusted your back, when Gloria popped in unannounced. She scared me actually, and my mind went blank. Then she yelled at me like I did something offensive, and ran off. I went after her to find out what was wrong, and when I got close, they ran off into the forest like I was the plague."

"They? I'm assuming you mean her and Melman. Did you follow after them? Maybe they were playing tag."

"No, Alex, it wasn't a game. They made it clear they didn't want me around. They- she- well, Gloria, threw a stick at me and hit me on the head. And stones, too."

Alex listened in amazement. Everybody loved Marty... everybody! "Well you must have done something, maybe accidently? Gloria yelled at me yesterday."

"Don't I remember. I felt so bad for you, Alex. I wish you hadn't run off, we could'a straightened everything out then and there. After I woke up, that is... just out for a couple o' minutes," laughed Marty.

Alex's happy expression turned to concern, and he took Marty's muzzle gently and examined it, also lifting the zebra's upper lip to check his mouth.

"I'm okay, really," said Marty, garbling his words. "See? All my choppers are intact. No black and blue stripes!"

Alex felt a lump on his head covered with a dirty smear. "Aww, man, Marty... I'm so sorry!" he said, now upset with himself.

"Alex, I got that one from Gloria. I'm okay, really."

Not satisfied, Alex kept looking the zebra's mouth and face over for the slightest scratch or bruise. Marty finally blurted out, "Well, Alex, if you're gonna kiss me, get it over with!"

"Marty!" Alex said frowning, letting go of the zebra's muzzle. He was only able to maintain the frown for a couple of seconds, then both animals burst out in laughter. Just to hear Alex laugh again was cheering up the zebra big time.

"Wanna take a walk?" asked Marty invitingly. "We can hang out together this afternoon and try to fix this mess later- you know, give things, whatever they are, a chance to cool down some."

"Yes," said Alex, "that's a great idea! There's something I really want to show you."

"Okay, then let's go, best friend!" Marty said. The two friends left the clearing and continued deeper into the forest, taking a new trail that Alex had blazed himself. 


	4. The Ascent

Alex the lion and Marty the zebra hiked for some time through the dense forest, thoroughly enjoying each other's company. Marty noticed they were gaining altitude, and the incline was steepening. "Are we climbing a mountain?" he asked. 

"Yes. Well, not really mountain climbing per-say, just hiking to the top of one. Are you okay? We've been hiking for quite a while."

"I'm makin' it, thanks," said the zebra, panting. "This is definitely the wild!"

Alex stopped and looked back down the vaguely visible trail, then sniffed the air and looked around to get his bearings.

"Do you know where we are?" asked Marty. "There's no one to ask for directions way out here, that's for sure."

Alex nodded, "I know where we are." He led Marty forward another hundred yards, then stopped in front of a rocky area. "Come here, Marty. Look at this." He boosted the zebra's butt to help him up onto the rock, then climbed up himself.

"Okay, look at what?" Marty asked.

"This," said Alex pointing, leading the zebra a few steps farther past a row of trees.

Marty passed the last tree and looked in the direction Alex was pointing. It was the ocean view, from up on the mountain. "Whoa!" said Marty, exhilarated by the spectacular view from on high. "Alex, this is beautiful! Thanks for taking me up here!"

"You're very welcome," the lion answered politely, "but this isn't what I wanted to show you. It's just some sight-seeing along the way. We're not quite there yet."

"Are we going all the way to the top?"

"All the way," said Alex. "The walk gets harder from here on... steeper... for a little while at least. Here, hop on, I'll carry you piggy back."

Marty's legs were getting tired, and he was all too happy to accept his buddy's offer. He launched up onto Alex's back, holding on to his neck and shoulders, the lion's forepaws supporting him from below. Alex's huge mane was soft and warm, and Marty rested his head on the fuzzy pillow. Up the rocky section the two of them went, the lion carrying the zebra piggyback. They entered a forest area again, and then finally, the incline began to lessen.

"Are we getting close to the top?" asked Marty, observing the terrain.

"Yes, we're almost there," said Alex. He carried his friend a little further and then set him down. "Feeling rested?"

"Yes I do, thanks," Marty said.

"Good. Mind giving me a ride the rest of the way?"

"Sure Alex, no problem," the zebra said. Marty strained as the heavy lion hopped up on his back, mounting him like a rider. "Good heavens, Alex, you're heavy!" he groaned.

"Are you okay with me up here? It gets more level just ahead."

"I'm fine, it's just a workout for me. Let's go."

Alex reached around Marty's head and held on with his forepaws, covering his eyes.

"Uh, Alex, I can't see."

"I know. That's okay, I'll tell you what to do. Just keep going."

Marty slowly started walking. "Why don't you want me to see? What are you gonna do?"

"It's a surprise. Don't worry, Marty, I'm not going to do anything to you."

"I know, it's just that... this feels wierd." Marty wondered what Alex had in mind, and started humming 'Jingle Bells' as he trotted along. "Hmm-hmm-hmmmm, hmm-hmm-hmmmm, hmm-hmm laid an egg! Mar-ty thinks that A-lex stinks, and the-"

"Will you stop with that?" interrupted Alex.

Marty stopped in his tracks. He knew what Alex meant, but was trying to deliberately act stupid to rile up his friend.

"No," said Alex, sounding a bit irritated, "I didn't mean stop walking, I meant- never mind, just keep going, we're almost there."

Marty started walking forward again, slowly. Walking and not being able to see at all gave him the creeps- he had to completely rely on trusting Alex. But he did trust his friend.

"Okay Marty, turn right," Alex instructed. "Not a sharp turn, it's like a 45 degree bend."

"Roger dodger," Marty answered, complying. He carried the lion forward about another hundred yards after the bend.

"Okay, stop, we're here," said Alex. Marty stopped, with the lion sitting on his back and still covering his eyes. "Now Marty, if I could have a wish right now, what do you think I'd wish for?"

"Uh...," guessed Marty, "a lioness?"

"Hmmm... well, yeah, that might be nice, but besides that."

"A nice, juicy steak!"

"You're getting warm."

"A bottle of wine to go with your steak?"

"You know I don't drink. Come on, Marty, focus!"

"Okay, okay, let's see... if you had a wish right now, I bet you'd want... to get off this island, to go back to Central Park Zoo!"

"Bingo!" said Alex. "You hit the nail on the head. But you gotta move your butt to make your wishes come true, right? Check this out!" Alex uncovered Marty's eyes and got off of him.

There before them was a towering structure of open framework, made of logs. The lower section was cubical, consisting of four vertically standing cornerpost logs, each about 14 feet in height, spaced at 10-15 feet from each other. A square of four horizontal logs at the top held them all together. Then, another section towered another 15 feet above it, same design. There were 16 logs in all. All the vertical logs sloped inward somewhat, tapering the structure as it rose in height. Marty noticed that one of the corner connections at the top was loose, and the two cross connecting logs that were to meet at this corner were dangling, not yet attached.

Marty didn't know what to say. He really wasn't sure what it was even supposed to be. "Uh, Alex, it's... it's... you built this? All by yourself? I'm impressed."

Alex nodded. "Yep," he said, smiling, "I did. That's where I've been over the last couple of days. Remember Lady Liberty, that I built on the beach our first day here?"

"Well, yeah, I kinda saw it from a distance. I was working on my hut you know, by myself, on the fun side of the island. But I did see you working on it... and I saw it burn. Sorry about that, big guy."

"Yeah, it had me down, dashed my hopes that night. But we're supposed to learn from our mistakes, right? So now, same idea, same plan, only on a much larger scale."

"Doesn't look like Lady Liberty to me."

"It's not. Same idea, though. Of course, it's not finished yet; this is just the support structure. It's going to be a lighthouse, Marty- sitting in this clearing on top of this mountain, with a straight view out to the sea. When you're up there you can see the ocean. I'm gonna build a platform up there, somehow fireproof it-"

"I see," said Marty, "to put a fire pit of some sort up there for the light."

"Yes! We'll take turns scanning the horizon for ships. One of these days soon, somebody's gotta come searching for that cargo ship the penguins hijacked. And when they do, we'll light the bonfire, and-"

"Flag them down," Marty finished Alex's sentence.

"Exactly!" said Alex. "They'll see this beacon from the sea for sure, day or night!"

"Hmmm. Nice. Well, good job, Alex. I don't know what to say... great!" Marty paused, looking up at the tower and then over at Alex, seeing the lion's huge smile as he admired his hard work. Marty was glad to see him smiling and happy. After a bit of thought, some questions came to mind. "Alex, are these lower support logs stuck into the ground, or just sitting on it?"

"They're stuck down into the ground. I dug all four holes myself, with my bare paws, stuck the poles in, then filled in the gaps with stones and sand. It was a lot harder than it sounds, especially working alone."

"That's a good idea. How deep did you make the holes?"

"A foot, maybe a little more."

"You probably should have put them in deeper, like four or five feet, for better stability."

"Yeah, but then I would lose some altitude. Every foot I go down into the ground makes the tower one foot shorter. Plus, you can't go much deeper than about two feet digging these narrow holes without any tools."

"That's true." Marty looked back at the structure thoughtfully. "What about that corner up there?" he said, pointing to the loose corner at the top.

"Oh, yeah. That came apart yesterday as I was putting it into place. The whole joint went, and I went with it. My grip slipped and I fell, hitting my head on the cross beam on the way down. That's how I messed up my neck."

"My God, Alex, you could've broken your neck! How high were you?"

"Here, I'll show you." Alex went to the left front support leg, leapt up on it and climbed with his claws. He went up past the mid-section, then halfway up the top section, shaking the structure as he climbed. Marty worriedly clenched his teeth when he saw the tower wobble badly with Alex up there.

"From up here, Marty." Alex examined the loose corner while he was up there, then came down to the mid-section and walked across a cross beam, grabbing one of the dangling logs. He went back up again slowly, pulling the end of the detached log with him, finally mounting it successfully on the vertical log. "That's not gonna stay," said Alex, looking at it. "I gotta get some more vine rope to tie it fast." He left the other log still dangling and climbed back down to the ground, the framework shaking badly as he went.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, I fell from where I just showed you," Alex explained, "and hit my head on the way down. Then I laid on the ground for I don't know how many minutes, stunned and scared. I don't think I knocked myself out, but I can't remember. Anyway, the pain was terrible, I could barely walk. I drug myself back down the mountain at a snail's pace, all the way to the beach. Dragging myself, that's why I was so dirty... hey, what do you know, I still am," Alex said, looking at himself. "It was the middle of the night when I made it to your hut, I didn't want to disturb you. I was afraid I did break my neck."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't," Marty said, "and I'm glad I was able to put your bones back in place. Please be careful, Alex! If you need help, just ask, buddy."

"Thanks, Marty," Alex said, still very excited about his creation. "So what do you think? You look like you have something to say."

"Uh,... well, Alex, that tower was really shaking bad just now when you were climbing it. Please tell me the support structure's not finished yet."

"Just about," said Alex. "After I fix that top corner we were just talking about."

"Yes, but you _are_ going to put in some trusses to stabilize it, aren't you?"

"What's a truss?"

"It's a structural member in the shape of a triangle," Marty explained. "A rectangle will flex, but a triangle won't. If you add a diagonal beam to to each side segment, it will form a truss there and make it a lot stronger."

Alex sort of tried to follow what Marty was saying, but didn't really want to hear it; he had his own ideas turned up full volume. "Marty, that's going to freakin' double the number of logs," Alex replied, in an angry tone. "I don't want to spend a whole month working on this! What if a boat shows up and the light's not ready because I'm still screwing around with this? So it wobbles a bit, that's not going to hurt anything!!" Then Alex got quiet and wasn't smiling anymore. He walked away beyond the other side of the tower. Marty followed, but not very far, for the edge of a cliff was there.

Alex stopped at the cliff and sat down, leaned back on his elbows, and dangled his feet over the edge. Marty approached the edge and sat down also, next to his friend. The cliff was steep and jagged, with a far drop to the bottom. Marty looked over the edge with a shudder, looking way down at the bottom of the cliff, seeing weeds, rocks, and what looked like a shallow marsh, that eventually led into a lake. The lake was in the middle of a huge chasm or canyon in the island, maybe a mile across to the base of another rocky cliff way on the other side. Marty could see that the top of the other cliff was as high or higher than this side, and was dense with green forest vegetation and some trees.

Marty looked at Alex, who was sitting there quietly, kicking his legs, and pouting. "Okay, what happened, Alex? Did I say something wrong?" No response came from the lion, he just kept staring straight ahead. "Come on now, best friend," Marty continued. "No secrets between us. Out with it!"


	5. Lion Around

Sitting there on the edge of the cliff, dangling his legs, Alex reluctantly opened up to Marty and shared what was bothering him. "It's just-... uhh-... it's-," he tried to say, then the truth just sort of popped out. "I'm jealous," he said sincerely. "I'm so jealous. Of you, Marty." 

"You're jealous of me?" the zebra said, surprised. "Whatever for?"

"Everything you do turns out so well," Alex told him. "Everything."

"Well, not everything," Marty said. "Like that walk I took to Grand Central Station. Got us all kicked out of the zoo. That didn't turn out good."

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. You know that afternoon we got shipwrecked here, you went off and built your hut, or cabana, or whatever it's called? Man, you put that thing together in one afternoon, and you looked like you were having fun doing it. It was ready to live in and enjoy by nightfall," said Alex.

"Aww, c'mon Alex, don't be so hard on yourself, man."

"No Marty, listen. I busted my... um, butt, to make this structure... and almost my neck too," Alex said, angrily expressing his feelings. "I made it the best way I could possibly think and I was so proud of my hard work. It helped me deal with my homesickness. It was to be a surprise for all of us. And so I show a sneak peek preview to my best friend, and then he tells me I hafta change this and add that... why not just come right out and say it's a freakin' piece of crap!"

"Alex," he began gently, "I didn't mean to bust your bubble. I was just offering-"

"And you know what part ticks me off the most? Do you?" Alex paused, looking out across to the other side of the canyon, while Marty remained interruptedly silent. "What bugs me the most is that I know you're right. That's so hard for me to take. I thought I was doing so well... thought I was more than half-way there... and now I don't know what to think."

Marty opened his mouth to say something, but Alex cut him off again before he could get a word out.

"You are so slick, Marty! You're such a winner! Just look at what you built. It's a shelter, it's got a fireplace, kitchen counter, and a skywindow that opens with some kind of lever control thingy," bragged Alex about his friend. "And then you shared it with all of us- even me, after I was such a jerk. Marty, I want to do something really big, something important. I want to contribute to help us get off this island and back home. But it's not happening, and I feel so helpless... I feel like such a loser. I'm a fish out of water on this island. I am so jealous of you. I'm sorry."

Marty wasn't sure what to say to all that. But something had been bothering the zebra for a while now, so he started by addressing that first. "Alex, could you please back away a little from the edge of that cliff? You're making me nervous."

"Marty?... you don't think that I was gonna-"

"No, of course not, but I don't want you to fall accidentally. That would ruin my day."

"Yeah, mine too!" Alex giggled, sliding his butt back a few feet to put his feet on solid ground, and to set his striped buddy at ease.

Marty was glad to hear Alex giggle. He kept silent a few more moments, still unsure of what to say. A mild mountain breeze kicked up, ruffling their manes as they sat near the cliff edge. Marty closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air. "You know, Alex, while I was alone I was attacked," he said.

Alex gave him a surprised look, shifting his thoughts from himself to his best buddy. "What?" he said, full of concern.

"Well," Marty began, "I was wandering through the woods, when a fossa jumped on my back!"

"Marty, don't keep important stuff like that from me! Was it today?" Alex wanted to know.

"No, not today. Anyway, I started to run but couldn't get it off of me. And then there was another fossa, and another and another. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a wild pack of them, running along both sides and behind of me."

"I thought we chased them all off," Alex said, puzzled. "Well, how did you get away? You obviously are still in one piece."

"You're not gonna believe it," said Marty.

"Try me," said the lion.

"All right. There I was, surrounded by fossae. Then, this hero shows up. Like a real superhero, he was a martial arts master! You should have seen the fossae fly and flee!"

"Marty, are you making this up?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"No, it's the absolute truth. My hero showed up just in the nick of time, kicked butt, and then everything was fine. Told ya that ya wouldn't believe me!"

"Okay, then what does this hero look like?"

"Hmmm, I'll try to describe him. He doesn't fly. Doesn't wear a cape, but he's very strong. Very brave. Fast. And very handsome. Claws like a ninja, and the smoothness and agility of a Kung Fu master! I tell ya, we're in good hands now."

"Here, on Madagascar? From out of the blue? Okay, why haven't I seen this guy then?"

"Because he's you, Alex. Come on, dude, you remember when the fossae were all over me- you fought them all off, and we haven't seen them since. You're my hero!"

"You mean when... aww, Marty! I thought you were... but that was just-"

"You saved my life, man... not to mention Melman's and Gloria's too. And the penguins. So don't beat yourself into the ground over this tower thing, okay? We all have different things we're good at. Building stuff like that hut just happens to come naturally to me. I was just suggesting some things that I thought would make your good idea better. Hey, look, you're the one that thought it up, not me. And you're the one who started building it... sure, I built the cabana, but I couldn't haul around heavy logs like that. As far as fighting goes, I can kick some butt to defend myself, but not like you. Geez, lion, you're incredible in action!! Now who's the cat?"

"Me?" said Alex, with some building enthusiasm.

"You better believe it," said Marty, "you the cat! Now, lie down, doctor's orders!"

Alex didn't question his friend, it sounded good to him. He laid himself down flat on his back, looking up at the puffy cumulus clouds drifting through the clear blue afternoon sky.

"No, I meant on your belly," Marty instructed. "I want to check your neck. You might want to turn around too, if you want a view out over the cliff... which, by the way, is really nice. You sure picked a great spot here, Alex."

"Yeah, that's a good idea, thanks," said Alex, repositioning himself by sitting up and then flopping forwards down on his belly, which placed his chin right at the edge of the cliff again. "Man, that's quite a drop to the bottom."

Marty took Alex by the hind legs and tried to pull him back from the edge a few more feet for safety's sake. Alex realized this and helped slide himself backwards with this front legs. Feeling much safer, Marty climbed onto the lion's back and felt his neck area. "Good. Feels good, big guy. Your vertebrae are all lined up nice and straight. How does this feel?"

"Ow. Hurts a little, nothing like before."

"You've got some bruising there, and your muscles are a little sore. I expected as much. But you're coming along fine... animals, on the average, tend to bounce back pretty quick from their injuries, and you're no exception." Marty ran his hooves along both sides of the lion's neck, massaging the bruised area. Then he started going down his back, kneading as he went, on both sides of the spine, all the way to the base of his tail.

"That feels great!," Alex said, smiling with his eyes half open. "Your hooves are like magic on my back... Marty, you're such a good friend. I love ya, man! If you ever find a mate, she's gonna be one lucky zebra!"

"Well, I'll take it one day at a time for now, Alex," said Marty. "I love you too, you know that, don't you? We all love you, Alex. A lot. Just the way you are."

"I know my fans love me," said Alex, zoo-minded again. "But if they saw me dirty like this, I'd be booed off the stage!"

"I'm not talking fan, I'm talking fam. We're your family, Alex. We love you no matter what."

"Even when I'm this filthy?"

"Yes, Alex, dirt and all. The dirt is lucky to be on you. How's that for hero worship?"

Alex continued smiling his huge smile. The massage felt great, and was putting him to sleep again. The only thing missing was the hot rocks. "Hey Marty," he asked, barely awake, "please tell me about your hero again."

Marty rattled off his list of super lion complements once more while he continued his massage. Eyes closed, Alex happily took a deep breath, sighed, and fell asleep. Seeing that he was out, Marty got off his back and laid down beside his friend. The gentle breeze tickled his mane while he took in the beautiful canyon sights, and his eyelids began to get heavy as he basked in the sensuality of the moment. His whole body tingled with a light sensation of electricity, from his muzzle to the end of his tail, and down each leg to his hooves. Marty couldn't recall ever feeling this good at the zoo, or, for that matter, ever feeling this way before. He was so happy. "I... just... love... the wild," he thought, without a care in the world. Marty was not one to worry anyway, but he knew that he was completely safe with Alex there so close to him. Listening to the sleeping lion breathe in and out was very relaxing and comforting, and in a short while the zebra was in dreamland, too.


	6. City of Dreams

Marty woke up next to the snoozing lion, surprised to see that the sun was now in the far west. He and Alex and had slept through the entire afternoon. Oops. Oh well, it was much needed rest. The hike up the mountain had taken a lot out of him, but now he felt recharged. He got up, stretched, and shook himself, then quietly trotted over to the structure his friend had been working so hard on. 

A nagging problem was now occupying the zebra's mind, one that was going to be much harder to solve than strengthening Alex's lighthouse tower. The lion and zebra had been good friends for years, having many happy times together in the zoo. And here on the island, despite his very independent nature, he was becoming even more attached to Alex. The island was Marty's dream come true, but his best friend seemed to hate it. Alex was determined to get off the island, and was bending over backwards making efforts toward that end. This new lighthouse idea had definite potential. With Alex's project underway full steam ahead, there was now a very real possibility they would be "rescued" and leave this island. And to Marty, that meant being taken away from the dream home he loved. But if he didn't leave, then he would have to part company with Alex. Either way the decision was going to be heartbreaking.

Shortly thereafter, Alex awoke from his long catnap, subconsciously sensing his friend had left. He felt refreshed and gave a big yawn, also surprised to see it had gotten so late. He sniffed the empty spot on the ground beside him, picking up the zebra's scent. "Speaking of Marty, where is he?" Alex thought. He got up and looked around, spotting Marty over by the lighthouse construction site, looking it over thoughtfully. The lion got up and stretched, and walked over to join his friend. "Hey, Marty," he said, as they both gazed at the structure. "I wonder how soon we can get this thing into operation?"

Staring into space, Marty paused, kind of ignoring the question. "You really want to go back, don't you?" he said.

"Of course I do... don't you?"

"Well, I..." Marty began, pausing again, not sure how to honestly answer the question.

Alex looked out into the distance, reminiscing. "Ah, New York- my big city of dreams."

"Hey Alex, that reminds me of a song..."

"Our song?" guessed Alex, fairly confident that he had guessed right.

"Well, actually, no," answered Marty. "Not this time. It's a different one. I think you might know some of it, though."

All of a sudden, Marty energetically broke into a rap song, dancing upright on his hind legs, moving his front legs and hooves to the rhythm:

_"New York, New York, big city o' dreams,  
but everything in New York ain't always what it seems..."_

Alex recognized the chorus of the song and jumped in to join his friend, rapping and dancing together:

_"...Ya might get fooled if ya come from out of town,  
but I'm down by law, I know my way around;  
New York! Too many peo-ple, too much, huh-huh, huh-huh-huh,  
New York! Too many peo-ple, too much...huh!"_

"Yeah, boy!" both friends exclaimed together as they slapped each other a high five with paw and hoof.

"That was cool, Marty! Yeah, I heard that somewhere before. How does the rest of it go?"

"Well, it's kinda depressing, man... some of it, anyway. Maybe we-"

"Hey Marty," interrupted Alex enthusiastically, "party at Julien's tonight! Woo-hoo! Par-ty! Par-ty! Par-ty!..."

"Cool... hey, we better get going then if we're gonna make it. It's really getting late! And we've got that long walk back down the mountain-"

"Aww, geez, Marty, look at me!" Alex said, looking down at himself, holding his arms out. "I'm a mess! I can't go like this!"

"We're not gonna have time now for a bath and grooming- we kinda slept the afternoon away. Let's just go as we are."

"But Marty, look! I'm filthy!"

"Go dirty then. Come on lion, I'm in the mood to party!"

"I can't go to Julien's like this, I'm sorry."

"Look at my head, Alex. Still got my charcoal smear there, don't I?"

"Big deal, Marty. Who's gonna notice that little spot next to me?"

"All right, then," said Marty, walking over to a smattering of fresh dirt Alex had recently dug out for one of the support poles. He bent down and started rolling in it.

"Marty, don't! You're going to get your coat all-"

"Yep. I'm gonna roll in mud too, if I can find some. Now we can both be dirty together. I'm not going to that party without you!"

"Okay, Marty, get up," said Alex. "You've convinced me. I'll go. I just hope I don't stink."

"Oh, come on, that never bothered you before!"

"That's because I'm usually clea- ...wait, what's that supposed to mean? What are you trying to say, Marty? That I st-"

"Naww! Look, you'll be fine. Who freakin' cares? And just think... now we can do some dirty dancin' tonight!" Marty said.

Alex laughed. "Alright, let's go!" he said, putting his arm around Marty's neck. Then the two friends set off together, taking the woodland trail back down the mountain.

* * *

All smiles and anticipating fun, the lion and zebra made their way through the final section of forest following their long hike back. Alex had carried Marty more than half of the way so he wouldn't be too tired to let loose on the dance floor. As they approached the lemurs' clearing, still some distance away, they could hear the jungle beat of the lemur musicians pounding on their drums in unison, in perfect timing. Marty started bobbing his head to the beat, hoping that Alex would let loose too and forget about his dirty, unkempt appearance. "Get the right people together, and a party makes itself!" thought Marty.

Finally, the two of them emerged into the lemurs' clearing, which was full of happiness and celebration. Alex walked in first, followed by Marty. They found Melman there hanging out not far from the entrance, so they greeted him first.

"Hey, Melman!" Alex called, beaming with happiness. "Melman, Melman, Mel-man!" he sang, doing the little dance he used to stomp out on top of Melman's roof back at the zoo.

"Dude," Melman said, greeting his lion friend by slapping him a high five. "Great, you found Marty! Hey, Marty; you okay? I'm so sorry about earlier, you know... I got caught up in a confusing misunderstanding. I'm really sorry. How's the head?"

"Yeah man," said Marty. "It's okay. Still got the old charcoal smear, but as long as we're all still friends, I'm doin' all right."

"Dude," said Melman, slapping Marty a high five, hoof to hoof, "we're lifelong friends! I'm glad you're both okay. I really felt bad about what happened this morning. Where have you guys been? Haven't seen you since about noon." Melman took a closer look at the dirty duo. "And what on earth have you been doing? No offense, but that doesn't look sanitary."

"Well, we were... uh, we...," Marty nervously began, not wanting to give away Alex's secret mountaintop project. The zebra's mind went blank. "Umm..."

Alex spoke up, bailing Marty out of his tongue-tied predicament. "We went for a nature walk through the forest and lost track of the time... me and buddy boy here," Alex said, putting his arm around Marty's neck and patting him, which gave the zebra a huge smile. "As a matter of fact, we just got back. Hey, look, over there's Skipper and the all the penguins!" They were all reclining in lounge chairs, resting with their flippers behind their heads, taking it easy. Alex waved to get Skipper's attention and saluted him. The well disciplined penguin leader nodded respectfully, and saluted the lion back.

"They look like they're havin' a good time," said Marty, looking around to take a quick inventory. "Where's Gloria?"

The continuous drum beating suddenly stopped, as there was a break between songs. "She's not coming to the party," said Melman. "I tried to get her to come, but she won't."

"Awww... she's still mad at me?" guessed Marty.

"Guys, she's not mad at either one of you," Melman began. He explained the situation, beginning with the incident involving Alex the day before, up through to the present. He did not mention Gloria's nightmare, because he did not know about it. She was keeping that to herself for the time being, as it was too terrible for her to talk about. "She feels bad about the way she treated both of you," he continued, "jumping to conclusions and all. Accused both of you. Yelled at both of you. She said, and I quote, that _the party will go much better without my nagging presence there_."

"Aww, Alex, we gotta do something," Marty exclaimed. "This party's gonna be a good one, I can feel it. It just won't be the same without Gloria here tonight."

"I agree. We can't party without a woman here," added Alex.

"Well, we all agree on that," said Melman, "but what are you guys gonna do? I tried my best to talk her into it, but got nowhere."

"We'll think of something," Alex encouraged. "Marty here is pretty resourceful... and I'm not so bad in that department myself."

"Good luck!" Melman wished them as the the lion and zebra left the clearing on their new mission. Then the drum beating started up again.

Skipper looked on from a distance as Alex and Marty left the party. Then he sat up, alert and at attention. "Okay, boys," he said to his fellow penguins, "we've been lying low here long enough- it's time for a little covert action. That psychotic lion is up to something. Kowalski, Rico, cover the area and see if you can find out what it is."

The three penguins sat up on their lounge chairs at attention. "Shall we follow them, Skippah?" asked Kowalski.

"Negative," answered Skipper. "Stay in the immediate area and be ready. The giraffe looks like he's waiting for something. If my hunch is correct they'll be back."

"What about me, sir?" inquired Private.

Skipper looked over in King Julien's direction, some distance away. "Something appears to be going down at the king's table," he replied. Go check it out, and report back. Kowalski and Rico will be covering things from this end."

"Won't I be suspicious lurking about the King's table?" asked Private.

"The strategy is to stay out in the open, Private. Cute and cuddly. Smile and wave, they shouldn't suspect a thing. Now roll out, men."

And roll out they did. The three penguins rolled backwards off their lounge chairs in unison and split up, heading towards their assigned posts there in the evening twilight.

* * *

credits:  
Rap song "New York, New York" by _Grandmaster Flash_. 


	7. Party On, Dude!

Down at the far end of the beach, Gloria sat at the water's edge in the evening twilight, watching the waves rush up and momentarily cover her shimmery wet legs. However, Gloria didn't feel very beautiful at the moment. Her false accusations of the others had left her feeling unusually down, and being alone certainly wasn't helping to raise her spirits. But at least this way, or so she thought, her friends wouldn't get hurt by her any further. Alex had seemed to bounce back, but she hadn't seen him since about noon. Marty was still lost as far as she knew, his whereabouts unknown in isolation. She really felt bad about that.

Amid the sound of the lapping waves, Gloria thought she heard some faint voices. She looked down the shore line and spotted the movement of two approaching figures in the distance. Soon, the voices were more audible, definitely coming her way... and one of them was black and white! "Marty?" she said to herself, hoping that it was him, but at the same time at a loss as to what she would say to him.

The evening light was gradually dimming as the two got closer. If it was Marty, Gloria assumed the second figure must be Alex. The voices were now much more audible, but it didn't sound like Marty at all. They were singing, or trying to, way off key, and it sounded awful. And their talk was loud and brash with cackling laughter. Gloria didn't know what to think when she heard this. Then the figure she had thought was Alex collapsed face down onto the beach near the water's edge, while the black and white one unsuccessfully tried to help his fallen comrade back up. Gloria turned away and looked back out to the sea, shaking her head. "Now what's going on?" she wondered. She looked back at them again. The one that had fallen had been left to lie there, and the black and white one was continuing his awkward approach towards her. "That has to be Marty," thought Gloria, squinting. Then he stumbled and tripped over his own legs, falling down into the sand. Gloria abruptly got up and ran over to see what was wrong.

It _was_ Marty. She noticed that he was very dirty, and he smelled funny too. "Hey good lookin'," Marty drunkenly spouted, attempting to get back up. "What's up!"

"Marty! It's Gloria!" she said to the silly zebra, who was still trying to get up. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"Glen..da?" he said, squinting.

"No Marty, I'm Gloria. Glo - ri - a," she spoke slowly and clearly, trying to get through the zebra's apparent stupor. "Oh Marty, you poor th- ... Marty, you're drunk!!" she exclaimed, in shock and surprise.

Marty sat there staring at her, then choppily said, "Oh yeah... Man, I knewed that was you," hiccuping after his odd statement. "Hey, me an' my... girlfriend over there, we was goin' fo' a w-" Marty began, hiccuping again. "She passed out,... I... couldn't get 'er up. Can ya help?"

Gloria helped Marty to his feet and held on to steady him. "Your girlfiend?" she asked, looking around. All she could see was the other fallen figure, lying face down, which by now was obviously Alex. "Where?"

"Ova' there," Marty shakily pointed toward the fallen lion with his right hoof,.

"Oh, my dear God," said Gloria, reacting to the situation at hand. "What happened to you two? Marty, listen to me: this isn't a zebra... this isn't even a girl... Marty, this is Alex!!"

"Thought 'er name was Alexa," slurred Marty drunkenly. "Isn't she cute? Th' long hair really trips my trigga!"

Gloria shook her head. "Please, please talk to me Marty," she said, gently shaking and slapping him, trying to get him to concentrate. "Tell me what happened to you!"

The waves rushed in, coming fairly close to Alex's motionless head, which was pointing toward the ocean. "Well,.." Marty began, "I was at this party, see, and,... well, me an' my buddy was at this party. No chicks anywhere in sight. But I finally found me one," Marty continued. "The man said,... he say, drink till she's cute. An' I said, say what? But, wa-la! It worked. But only thing... we kinda hafta get married now, I think, 'cause we was-"

"Stop!" Gloria commanded, raising her hand and closing her eyes in shock. "Stop. Spare me the rest. I don't _want_ to know! Oh... my... God!" Gloria stood there with Marty, agast at the whole situation. "Now I've driven you both to drink!" she lamented, putting her hand to her head.

"Naww, no prob hey... I'm feelin' pretty good, Glenda," spouted the blasted zebra.

"Okay, I'm taking you home, Marty," she said. "Both you and Alex. You're gonna need somebody to help you guys sober up, and I guess it's gonna hafta be me. I'm so sorry this happened... I know it's probably partly my fault."

Alex groaned face down in the sand. Gloria went to him, firmly grabbing his shoulders, and rolled the heavy, filthy lion over onto his back. Suddenly Alex's eyes shot open, which spooked her. He was smiling seemingly soberly with his usual hyper-happy expression. Then she noticed he was holding out a red rose, which somehow had not been crushed. She looked back at Marty, and saw that he too was holding out a rose. "What?" she asked, totally confused. "What is going on here?"

"A rose for a pretty girl," said Alex, sitting up, smiling invitingly, and winking.

"Two roses," added Marty, still holding out his flower. "Please accept these as a tok-... aww, Gloria, please come to the party with us," he begged. "Look, everybody makes mistakes, even me... and Alex too! Let's forget our differences. It's just not the same without you. We miss you. Please say that you'll come."

Gloria looked over to Alex, who made eye contact while nodding in agreement. "Then... you're not really drunk? This is just an act? And you two aren't-... you didn't-... whew, thank God. Jeez, I can't believe you two- you really had me fooled. I don't know whether to give you both a whoopin', or give you a big kiss."

"I vote for the kiss," suggested Alex, breaking into laughter.

"Aww, youz guys!" said Gloria, helping Alex up and giving both of them a nice kiss on the cheek. "The roses are lovely," she said thankfully. "I'm so sorry for the misunderstandings yesterday and this morning. It hurts me to know I've hurt you. I care for you both so much."

"We know you do, Gloria," said Marty. "And we love you too. That's why we came looking for you."

"Yeah, one for all and all for one," piped in Alex, followed by a few moments of reflective silence.

Then Gloria stood tall with her head up high, and a stern expression appeared on her face. "Now what are we doin' yakkin' out here on the beach?" she stated firmly with her hands on her hips. "It's soon gonna be dark out here. Don't we have a party to get to?"

"Yeah, baby!!" Alex exclaimed, doing a backflip in the sand. "Woo hoo! Party time!!"

All three animals exchanged warm hugs, and then they began walking back down the beach together, arm in arm, heading for Julien's party. On the way, Alex and Marty attempted to start up their faked intoxicated singing again, but Gloria quickly put an end to that. "Can it, guys," she commanded. "I'm sorry, but that's pushing the limits of our relationship!"

* * *

Melman's ears flapped and stood out at the sound of approaching footsteps from the woods. To his astonishment, Alex, Gloria, and Marty all came into view as they entered the lemurs' clearing. "Gloria? Wonderful! What changed your- uh, guys, how did you-" 

"Well, somebody's gotta keep an eye on these two clowns," Gloria stated emphatically, then smiled and went over and gave Melman a hug. "You won't believe what these two went through to get me here," she said, then turned around to face Alex and Marty with her arm around Melman. "You know, I couldn't have asked for any better friends than you three. Lucky we all ended up on this island together."

"Well, I guess you can thank Marty for that luck," said Melman. "He's the one who made the wish."

"Fresh fish?" came a voice from below. Alex looked down to find Kowalski standing there holding a plate like a waiter, with three fish on it. With his natural black and white coloring, he sure looked the part.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that sounds great, thanks!" answered the dirty lion excitedly, taking all three fish.

Kowalski hung out with them for a short while as the lion snacked on his fish and Marty yakkety-yakked. Rico was standing a short distance away to monitor both conversations.

The next round of music started up in force, and the conversations ended. "Let's hit the dance floor before it gets any later," suggested Alex. "I'm ready to move it, move it!" he said, rythmically flexing his well-toned fur-covered abdominal muscles with incredible control, like a belly dancer. "How about it, Glo? I'm not too dirty to dance with, am I?"

The four large ex-zoo animals conspicuously headed over to the more densely populated area of the party, making their way to the dancing arena. There, the music volume was at its peak. Melman went along with them primarily to promote the sense of belonging and friendship. He wasn't particularly interested in dancing tonight, but was so glad they were all together again, and wanted to celebrate with his friends. "_Hmm... maybe a neck massage a little later..._" he thought to himself. "_Yes, that sounds good._"

The three penguin scouts reconvened with their leader by the lounge chairs, standing at attention. "Surveillance report," ordered Skipper.

Rico and Kowalski didn't have much to report, other than Alex and Marty's clever method of getting Gloria to the party.

"Very well," said Skipper. "I just thought there was something more going on. If you haven't noticed, that lion's behavior has been erratic for the past week. Now suddenly it's all happy smiles and party time. Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you? On the other hand, he is psychotic... so it may be nothing, but let's keep a watch on him just the same. Private, what is happening with King Julien? Were you able to get any information?"

"Missing lemurs, sir," replied Private. "Four in all, that I could gather, unaccounted for. Two ring tails, and two red-fronted. They had reason to be here, invited to personally dine with King Julien, and so were expected. They were supposed to be at the party tonight, and never showed up."

"An APB on four missing lemurs, then," said Skipper. "Good work, Private. Write down their descriptions, whatever details you can get." Private pulled out his notepad and crayon, and began taking notes while Skipper continued. "All of you, stay abreast of the situations at hand and keep me informed. For now, at ease, men. Enjoy the party. Dismiss!"

Over in the dance arena, the four ex-zoo animals were having a blast. Marty and Alex took turns dancing with Gloria, and also danced quite a bit with each other, showing off. Melman even took Gloria out on the floor a few times himself, before finally taking a break from it all and getting his coveted lemur neck massage. Gloria the hippo was very happy, and it was her friends who had made her feel that way. Silently reflecting on her wonderful companions, she remembered the words Marty had spoken days ago at the 'bon voyage' send off party given by the lemurs. He had said, _"It doesn't matter where we are, as long as we're together."_ And how true that seemed tonight.

Alex had taken the opportunity during a few breaks to gradually wash himself throughout the evening. Later on while they were relaxing, Marty finally noticed, taking a double look at the lion. "Whoa! Alex! You're... clean. When did that happen? You look great, man. I mean it, really."

"Thanks, Marty," said Alex, standing up on all fours with a funny grin on his face. "And now it's your turn, buddy. This bath's on me."

"Alex? What are you doing? Wait, whoa, aaah! Stop it, that tickles!!"

"Hold still, Marty," the lion said, licking the giggling zebra's side while firmly holding him down with his massive paws, like a lioness washing her cub. "This won't take long."

"Alex, you're embarrassing me! C'mon, man, not in front of everyone... Alex!"

Lounging nearby, Melman heard the silly commotion and finally lifted up his head to look. Alex was on top of Marty's back, holding down his head, licking his ears and forehead. "Uh, Gloria?" asked the staring, concerned giraffe. "What are they doing?"

"Melman, you worry too much," answered Gloria, who was reclining beside him with cucumber slices over her closed eyes. "Probably having fun, I don't know. They're getting along, just leave them alone. I don't care what they're doing."

Melman rolled his eyes, and said, "Whatever," lying back down. Excepting the curious little disturbance by his friends, his neck was in perfect alignment and he felt great.

"There you go," said Alex, finishing up the zebra's cat bath grooming and releasing him. "No more charcoal smear. Now you look really sharp, Marty. Almost as good as me."

"Gee, thanks," said Marty, a bit sarcastically. He got up, curious about his appearance, but there were no mirrors around, of course. He'd have to wait until daylight and then find a still-water pond to gaze into... well, one without alligators, that is. "Aww, man, now I smell like lion," he said. "Thanks a lot!"

The evening went on and the music eventually died down, as everyone throughout the party was finding a spot to "crash" for the night. The foursome chose to spend the night there at the party instead of heading back to the beach this late in the dark. A hundred thousand stars shone in the beautiful glittery night sky, visible through a few open areas in the forest canopy. The dimming campfire and distant torches flickered, and the nighttime insects and other unknown nocturnal animals made a peaceful background sound to fall asleep to. Marty and Alex were lying there silently, mentally unwinding, their minds reeling with the day's events and the fun they had had. But though they were lying there together in that same place, each saw the world quite differently.

On the outside, Alex appeared to be happy and at peace with himself. But on the inside, his mind was actually miles away, as it had been all evening, filled with hopes of the future- _his_ future. He saw a working lighthouse with a blazing light, a great ship arriving, being rescued, going home to his beloved New York City, and hearing the cheers of hundreds of his loyal fans. Marty, on the other hand, was living for the moment. Although it started out bad, this day had turned out to be quite possibly the best day of his life. Here he was on his island paradise, in the wild, free, with all his closest friends, lying next to his best friend in the whole world. Everything he needed or wanted was right here. He was taking in every moment, and didn't want this night to end.

Marty was now the only one of the four who was still awake. He looked over at Melman and Gloria through the dim light and smiled. He laid his head on Alex's furry chest, feeling the lion's blazing warmth on his chin and neck. He closed his eyes, beginning to zone out, and then, almost asleep, he heard something. The zebra's sleepy eyes shot open only to see the flickering darkness on Alex's fur. His heart was beating fast and he lifted his head to listen with his ears erect. "What is that?" he wondered. It sounded like a muffled lawn mower from the zoo... or a motor... or a _motor boat_! Marty bolted up, and suddenly the sound was gone. He looked around in the darkness, wondering if anyone else had heard it, or if anyone else was even awake. He wondered if he should tell anyone about it, or if he should wake Alex. _"What if it was a boat? Should I try to get in touch with Skipper? No, I'd never find him here in the dark. Oh well,"_ he thought.

Marty laid down again and snuggled up close to Alex, once again resting his head on the lion's warm chest. Then suddenly, there it was again! That motor sound. When he lifted his head, it diminished in volume. _"Hmm,"_ Marty thought, then placed his head back on Alex to try out a theory. Yep, there was the motor sound again. He repeated this several times until he finally realized where the sound was coming from. It was coming from none other than Alex himself! The great lion was so contented that he was purring. Powerfully purring.

"Wow... don't think I ever heard that before," whispered Marty to himself, relieved to have solved the little mystery without disturbing anyone. "Oh Alex, after all these years we've spent together, I'm still learning new things about you. I just love this place." Marty placed his head back onto his favorite heated pillow- his best friend's chest. "Good night, buddy," he whispered. "Sweet dreams."


	8. The Party's Over

Marty opened his eyes to a few shifty beams of the morning sunlight. He was usually a fairly early riser, but after all the activity the previous day with hiking and then dancing at Julien's wild party, not to mention staying up late, it felt really good to sleep in. He lifted his head and yawned, surprised to see that Alex wasn't next to him anymore. Disappointed, he got up and shook himself, then took a walk around the clearing. Gloria was there, eating some fruit for breakfast next to Melman.

"Well good morning, lazybones," she greeted him. "It's about time you got up!... No, Marty, I'm picking on you, I only got up a little while ago myself. Care for some fruit? It's lovely!"

"Maybe a little later, after I find Alex," answered Marty, looking around. "Have you seen him?"

"No I haven't," answered Gloria, munching on a pineapple. "Melman was up earlier, though, he might have seen him."

But the giraffe started shaking his head as Gloria spoke. "No Marty, I'm sorry, I haven't seen him either," he said. "He was gone when I got up this morning."

Marty was disappointed. He was hoping that Alex had merely left to visit the bathroom or get a drink of water, but apparently that wasn't the case since he'd been gone this long. There wasn't much activity in the clearing as many of the animals were still sleeping. Then he saw that King Julien was up and about, and was heading his way.

"Good morning, Mr. Marty," greeted Julien in a cheerful, hospitable manner. "I trust you slept well?"

"Yeppers. Hey, great party, man," complemented Marty. "One of the best yet. Hey, have you seen Alex? I can't find him around here anywhere."

"Ah, yes, where is Mr. Alex?," responded Julien, in a much more serious tone. "That is a good question... we are wondering that too." Then Julien proceeded to ask Marty a number of questions about Alex's recent behavior. Apparently, the lion's grumpy antisocial attitude had not gone unnoticed by others outside the tight little ex-zoo foursome.

_"I think I know where he might be,"_ thought Marty to himself. Without letting anyone know where he was going, he bid Julien goodbye and left the clearing, skipping breakfast entirely, heading for the secret trail that led up the mountain.

* * *

An hour later, Marty was winded and getting nervous as nothing was looking familiar to him now. He had only come up the mountain once with Alex leading him, and hadn't paid much attention to landmarks along the way. He had done a fairly decent job of retracing the trail, which had virtually no trail markers, except that now nothing was familiar. Why wasn't the path going uphill anymore? And where on earth was that rock he and Alex had viewed the ocean from? The path ahead continued to be level. Finally, there was a small clearing where he could see the sky through the trees. Marty sat down and rested, starting to worry that he had gotten himself good and lost. He was ready to continue straight ahead, when he looked up to the right and saw the mountain through the trees. He was going the wrong way, following a contour of even elevation instead of climbing the mountain. Looking further to the right, slightly backwards, he saw a tannish colored feature way up on the side of the mountain. "That must be a large rock," he said to himself, squinting. "Wait, I'll bet that's the rock I was looking for. It's gotta be. But how am I gonna get way up there from where I am now?"

Marty turned off the trail and crashed through the forest, encountering weeds, burrs, and thick foliage along the way, which was a steep climb upwards. At last, he reached the vicinity of the rock, but was still under it, standing on near vertical unsteady ground. The zebra had to pass under the rock and crash through more of the pathless vegetation, until he was finally able to get up onto the original trail he had taken with Alex. It would have been so much easier if he hadn't gotten off the trail in the first place. Oh well. Marty scrambled to get up on top of the rock, which had the nice ocean view. So good to be on the right path again. The zebra kept moving upwards, getting tired now, as he approached the steepening rocky section. He was pretty sure he knew the rest of the way from here on.

* * *

Some time later, Marty was finally on the woodland trail at the top of the mountain. Traversing the steep rocky section by himself had proven to be nearly disastrous, as his hooves slipped and skidded on the rocks, barely getting a foothold. Luckily, he had made it up somehow, crawling on his haunches, but did not want to try this alone again. He hoped that Alex would be available to help him back down this dangerous section on his return trip... if Alex was even up here. And that he would soon know.

As Marty got towards the end of the trail, he started to wonder if he had somehow gotten off the path again, because Alex's towering structure should have come into view by now. No, there was a tree with a very odd twisted branch which he recognized- this had to be the right path. Marty had a wierd, uneasy feeling all of a sudden. He paused for a second, then trudged on the final few hundred feet to his destination.

The trail disappeared and Marty nervously emerged from the woods into the clearing. He had sensed something was wrong because he couldn't see the lighthouse framework, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight that lay ahead. The tower, as Marty liked to call it, was gone, and there was a rubble of logs on the spot where it had stood. The zebra had been right about its structural integrity- the entire structure had collapsed, not even one single log pole was left standing. Fearing the worst, Marty began to approach the accident site. There within the midst of the disorderly scattered log pile, a small hint of tan fur was visible. Marty's heart was beating faster as a feeling of dread swept over him. He got closer, and then the tan color resolved into a pair of hind legs and a tail with a fuzzy tassle- a lion's tail. The entire structure had collapsed on top of Alex.

"Oh my God... this can't be... this just cannot be happening!" Marty whispered to himself in shock. "I refuse to believe it. Wake up, Marty, wake up!" But the zebra was not asleep and not dreaming, this was real. As a lump began to form in his throat, suddenly the tan tail lifted and began to twitch, and the protruding pair of legs began kicking in the air, unsuccessfully scrambling about to get a foothold. The lion was alive, but definitely trapped, lying on his belly underneath a lot of weight. Marty ran around to the other side of the log pile, where he could see the head end. "Alex! Alex! It's Marty! Alex, are you all right?"

The head moved and looked up at the zebra. "Oh, I'm just peachy under here, what did you think?" snapped the lion, who was spitting mad.

"Oh, thank God you're alive!" exclaimed Marty, very relieved to see his friend in the land of the living.

"This is _so_ embarrassing," moaned Alex, supporting his chin on his forepaws.

"Aww, Alex, your project... I'm so sorry," said Marty. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah... Look, I already cried and screamed and threw my tantrum," he said in a disgusted tone. "Just get me outta this pile of crap!"

Marty tried to move the logs, but they didn't budge. "Alex, I told you I'd help. Why didn't you wait for me?"

"Geez, Marty, the whole freakin' world doesn't revolve around you. Think about somebody else for a change."

"Look who's talking!" retorted Marty, clearly offended by the lion's insensitive statement. "I can't believe you actually said that to me. Look who's talking!!"

"I've been stuck under here for hours, dammit! Hours! All freakin' morning. My back hurts, I'm hungry, I'm hot, and I have to go to the bathroom. And, I'm in a really bad mood, if you hadn't noticed. Hell and damnation! Cut the chatter, and just get me outta this stack of sh-"

"Look, I know you're upset, but don't swear at me, okay? I'm trying to help you."

"Don't tell me what to do... Mister know-it-all!"

"Listen Alex, I don't appreciate that at all. I've got a good mind to go and leave you here like this. You're fit to be tied!"

"Well go then!" snapped Alex, in the worst mood he'd been in since arriving at the island. "Get the f-"

"Alright. That's it. I am outta here!" said the zebra, walking away from the accident scene angry and upset.

"Good riddance," muttered the miserable lion while the zebra was still within earshot.

"Jerk!" muttered Marty as he left, stomping down the trail and disappearing into the woods.

Alex laid there face down trapped under the log pile, contemplating his situation, and thinking about how foolishly rude he had been. "What a stupid thing for me to say," he thought to himself. "Now what am I gonna-"

Alex suddenly looked up to find a very cross zebra looking down at him. Marty had simply looped through the woods and come back around the other side of the log pile. He was standing there in front of him, holding a long, thick stick.

"Alex Lion, what kind of a deadbeat do you take me for?" the zebra crossly lectured. "Like I'm really going to just go and leave you here in this dire predicament. I should take this stick across your backside a few times- maybe that'll knock some sense into you, seeings that's where your brain seems to be today. And since when did you start with all this swearing? What a potty mouth! You never talk like that!"

Even though Alex regretted the insults and the foul language he had uttered, he just couldn't stop spewing more of the venomous words out of his mouth. He was terribly unhappy, and everyone else was going to know about it. He was not a happy camper at all.

"Marty, if that stick touches my butt- so much as touches it- it's gonna touch yours also. I'll take that stick and shove it-"

"Shutup, Alex. You don't have anything good to say today, do you? Just shutup, and let me think about how to get you out of this."

"Ooo, do not disturb, the genious is hard at work," said Alex sarcastically. "Hurry it up!"

"Alex, I would strongly advise you to put an end to these insults. You're not yourself today at all."

"Oh, yes, you have lots of advice to give out, don't you?? Well, you're not gonna run my life, miserable as it is."

"I said shutup!! If you don't have anything good to say, please just be quiet. I know you're not happy, and believe it or not, I understand. If you want to be miserable, fine, then sulk. But do it quietly, I really don't want to hear it."

Alex finally kept his trap shut this time, frowning, and just lay there grumbling.

Marty examined the pile of logs, prodding some gaps carefully with his stick. If he moved them the wrong way, they could further collapse and crush Alex. He was looking for a gap that was large enough to get his stick into and get some decent leverage, but there didn't seem to be any. Marty walked around to the back and checked things out from that end. Finally, he found an ideal place to get some leverage, and he put his stick into it, at an angle of about 30 degrees to the ground.

Marty pulled on the stick with all his might. He even wrapped his legs around the stick and climbed it to the end, bearing down his full weight. He started shaking it too, bouncing up and down. But the logs didn't budge.

Marty stood there contemplating what he could try next, momentarily at a loss for ideas. He looked at Alex lying trapped under there, who was grumbling and cursing under his breath. Marty shook his head. _"That rotten mood sure isn't helping,"_ he thought to himself. Then suddenly it gave him an idea. It was a naughty one, but still something to try. _"You know, it just might work!"_ he thought with a smile.

"Hey Alex," Marty called out.

"What?" answered the disheartened lion, half-listening.

"Hey Alex, you aren't ticklish, are you?"

"What? Now what are you chattering about? You're supposed to be getting me out of this mess, remember?"

"I said, you aren't ticklish, are you? I didn't think so."

"I'm only ticklish in two spots-" An alarmed expression appeared on Alex's face. "No. Marty, you know how ticklish I am!"

"Let's find out then," the zebra said, taking a hold of Alex's right rear leg.

"No! Don't you dare!" Alex said in a panic, squirming. "Don't Marty, don't!! Please don't! Help, somebody!! Anyone! Get this crazy zebra away from me!!"

Marty gently dug his hoof down into Alex's paw, into the fur between the pads. Alex kicked and screamed and started laughing hysterically, yelling "stop it, stop it!" when he could get out any intelligible words at all. Then Marty moved up his leg up to his belly, as best as he could reach it through the logs. He tickled the area around his belly button, making him raging wild.

Alex let out a loud roar, and the log pile began moving. Marty continued his tickling, moving over to another sensitive spot. Alex just couldn't take it any more. He let out another roar and then tried to stand up with an intense adrenaline rush, moving the heavy pile of logs that were on top of him. Marty siezed the moment and lept to his stick, once again bearing down his full weight at the end. The shifting pile of logs moved, Marty's stick swung downwards sending the zebra to the ground, and the lion scrambled out of the loosened opening.

"Owww!" yelled Alex as his tail was painfully pinched between two of the logs. Marty got up off the ground, fumbled to find the correct end, then stuck his lever into the gap and moved the log to free his friend's tail.

Finally free, Alex ran a few yards away from the log pile, and sat down to assess the damage. "Ow, ow, oww," whined Alex, examining his tail, putting it in his mouth, and then licking it. "My poor, poor tail. And my back!"

Alex held his tail in his mouth and rubbed his lower back. "Of all the stupid...," he began to mutter, sitting facing away from the zebra. "Leave me, Marty. I don't want any company right now."

"Oh Alex, not again? I thought we went through all of this the other day. And don't I even get a thank you?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks a lot, Marty- thanks for making me piss myself, and for almost breaking my tail!"

"You know I didn't try to do that. Stop acting like such an ungrateful wretch. Seriously, is your tail all right? Let me check your back."

"No! Don't touch me. I mean it, Marty. You've touched me enough!"

"Alright then, suit yourself. Look, I'm sorry your tail got pinched, okay? Now get up off your butt. We've got to move these logs and organize them, and I can't do it all by myself."

"Oh, I'm gonna move these logs all right- _I'm_ gonna do it, not you," Alex said angrily, pointing to his chest with his thumb. "I'm gonna pick them up one by one and toss them over the cliff. Then that'll be the end of this stupid project. Maybe I should jump off, too."

"Alex, please don't talk like that. You're scaring me. I'm thinking we might have to tie you down for a while to keep you from hurting yourself."

"Tie up the lion, huh? Oh yeah, that sounds like lots of fun... not!! What, so you can tickle me some more? You little deviant. Didn't know you were into bondage, too."

"Alex! Come on! That's not what I meant at all, and you know it."

"Maybe we should play tie-up-the-zebra instead," Alex said, turning around to face Marty, picking up a piece of vine rope with his paws. "Yeah, that's a much better idea. I'll stretch you out and see how you like being tickled. Maybe after a few hours of that you'll be singin' a different tune."

Marty didn't say anything as Alex approached him with the rope; he just stood there looking sad. A period of uncomfortable silence ensued. Alex stopped short of his friend and the dastardly smile vanished from his face. He angrily wrinkled the rope up in his fist and threw it into the log pile. "Aww, I didn't mean that, Marty. I didn't mean that."

"I know," said Marty kindly. "It's okay."

"I feel sick," said Alex as he slumped to the ground. "Now I'm sounding like Melman... but I'm sick to my stomach, Marty. I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"Well, you've got yourself all worked up. And did you skip breakfast today?" asked Marty with insight in his voice. "Aha..., you did, didn't you? Actually, so did I. That's why you're so cranky, and that's probably why you're feeling sick. Lie down there for a few minutes, take it easy, and calm yourself."

Alex the lion lay on the ground very still, motionless except for his chest rising and falling rapidly as he lay there panting amid his nausea. After a couple of minutes, he let out a loud burp, and then started to feel a little better- but just a little.

"Here's the deal, buddy. I'm takin' you to Marty's this afternoon- my treat. We'll have a late lunch, or an early supper, whatever. You'll fill your belly and clear your mind. Hey, I'll even give you another massage. How does that sound?"

Alex's eyes sparkled, and his ears perked up at the inviting offer. He really did want to feel better, honestly he did. But there was still a lot of unresolved anger inside that wasn't going away.

"Oh, I forgot to mention the special- the best part- today only!" Marty announced, in his best advertisement voice. "You gotta get in on this deal while it lasts! Let's forget any of this happened so far and start the day over fresh. No hard feelings. Whattaya say, best friend?"

Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head, looking at the log pile. "Now how am I supposed to forget about this?" he asked.

"Not the tower, I mean our nasty conversation. All the swearing. All the insults. All the threats. I'll forget it all. It never happened."

"Okay, I'm sorr-..." Alex began, but stopped short in mid-sentence as his countenance suddenly changed again. "Hey, wait just a freakin' minute here... whoa! This is way too easy. What are you up to, Marty?"

"Nothing... well, I mean-"

"Have a guilty conscience?" asked Alex in an angry, acusational tone. "Just what were you doing here yesterday while I was asleep? Sabotage? Why are you trying so hard to kiss my ass?"

"I'm not," said the zebra nervously, "And I didn't mess with your tower. Honest, I didn't! I just want everything to be right between us. I don't care whose fault it is."

"Oh, I see," snapped Alex nastily, getting up and moving back over to his previous pouting spot. "So that's what it's really about. In other words then, you're blaming _me_ for all of this, aren't you? Hmm, just what I want to hear."

"No Alex, I- aw, c'mon man, you're being totally unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable, huh? Whatever," Alex yelled, "at least I'm not a buttkisser! Go kiss your own fat ass, instead of trying to kiss mine!!"

"Oh, Alex...," said Marty, visibly hurt. "You should be slapped across the face for saying that!"

"Yeah, well, you just come over here and try it, hot shot," taunted the lion, turning his back to the zebra.

"I'm not that stupid," answered Marty, getting angry. "You're really making me mad, Alex. These mood swings of yours are pushing my patience to the limit!"

"Go then," jeered Alex. "Leave. It's not like I tied you here on a leash."

"What the hell is wrong with you??" yelled Marty, raising his voice in anger towards the lion, for the first time since their loud verbal argument within their crates on the ship. "Aww, is da poor wittle wion feeling sowwy fo' his self? Does he need daddy zeeba to kiss his wittle tail? Maybe I should wipe your butt for you as well!"

"Shutup, Marty. Stop mocking me with that stupid baby talk."

"Well, you're acting like one, worse than a whiny little cub that didn't get his way. Except for yesterday, your behavior has been pissy and nasty and miserable all week now, and I'm sick of it! Sick of it!! You don't talk to any of us, aren't nice to any of us, and don't want to be around any of us. What's your freakin' problem?? I can't believe you're still acting like this... especially after that wonderful time we shared together yesterday. This is horse crap, Alex! A bunch of horse crap!!"

"_You're_ the one who makes all the horse crap around here," fired back Alex. "And you're full of it, Marty! Full of it!!"

Marty paused a moment before responding in an effort to break the cycling argument with the lion who was angry beyond reason. "Look, Alex," he began, "I don't want to fight with you. This just isn't you at all. Come on buddy, get yourself together. Let's get some of these logs moved and get back to building."

"Back to building? Ha. This project is finished, Marty. It was doomed from the get go."

"No it wasn't, Alex," encouraged Marty, "you've just had a setback. With the two of us working on it, we'll have this tower standing again in just a day or two- even stronger than it was!"

"Duh! It's not a tower, stupid, it's a lighthouse. Well, it _was_ going to be a lighthouse, it's not going to be anything now."

"Come on Alex, we can do this! It'll be fantastic, you'll see!"

"I'm sure it would be. No thanks, it'd just be another accomplishment for the great Marty, bailing the stupid lion out of his construction mess. No thanks, it's kind of lost its appeal."

"What is it with you and this pride thing? So what? So what if we both work on it? It's still your idea. It's a good idea!"

"I call the shots on my project, and I said no! Look, I know I'm hurting you, so please just go."

"No, Alex, it's your dream... don't give up on it, buddy!"

"Why not?" suggested Alex, turning his head to look him in the eye. "_You_ have!"

"What do you mean?" asked the zebra with a confused look on his face. "Look, I'm here offering my help, as much as you need! Let's make it happen! What do you mean I gave up??"

"You never did answer my question yesterday. You don't even _want_ to leave this island, do you? You don't want to go back to New York, do you? Do you??" Marty stood there speechless. "Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll bet that's why you wouldn't do our wonderful song about New York City... instead you did that rap song proclaiming everything negative about our good old home town. You little traitor."

Marty's spirits sank with a heavy heart, and his empty tummy gurgled as he sensed the conversation was going from bad to worse.

"Get out of here, Marty. Leave me alone."

"Aww, no Alex," begged Marty with a lump in his throat. "Please don't make me spend another day all by myself! Not again!"

"I thought you liked being by yourself, Mr. Independent. Go enjoy the wild, leave me alone."

"Now how am I supposed to enjoy the day knowing that you're so miserable and upset?" asked the zebra. Alex just shrugged his shoulders, still sitting facing the opposite direction. Marty thought back on their happy time at the party just 12 hours earlier. "Didn't last night mean anything to you?" he added.

"Last night? Oh. Yeah. Look, I let loose last night because I believed we were soon going home again. I was gonna get us off this island. Yeah, I celebrated prematurely. I should have been here working on this instead of going to that stupid party. Now, all is lost... so why don't _you_ get lost and leave me alone!!"

"Alex? Are...are we still friends? Are we still..." the zebra choked, unable to continue speaking. A teardrop silently rolled down Marty's handsome muzzle, dripping off and landing on his hoof. There could be no reasoning with Alex like this. Sadly, Marty turned around with his head hanging low and started to leave, determined not to cry in front of Alex. Then he lifted his head and looked back at his friend. "Know what?" he yelled to the lion, speaking in a sobby, half crying voice. "My dinner offer from before still stands, but now it's gonna cost you... two or three little magic words. I think you can figure out what they are."

Alex did not say goodbye, and did not turn around, he just sat there quietly with his tail twitching as Marty turned and walked away towards the mountain trail.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the lemur's clearing, some activity was brewing. It was just after noon, and Melman and Gloria had left for the beach some time ago, wondering where Marty had gotten off to. Now, only the lemurs and the covert penguins occupied the area.

"Surveillance report," ordered Skipper to the three penguins that had returned from their posts. "What was all that commotion with King Julien and those lemurs just now?"

"The missing lemurs, sir," answered Private. "They have been found."

"Alive?" asked Skipper, suspicious of their solemn expressions.

"No sir, dead," continued Private, uncomfortably.

"The Fossae?" suggested Skipper.

"They were mutilated," added Kowalski, also uncomfortable with the situation. "Bodies partially intact. Doesn't appear to match the usual pattern of the Fossae. Possibly, yes; probably, no."

Rico remained silent.

"All right, boys, the party's over," announced Skipper. "We've got to get to the bottom of this, before there are more incidents. Move out, men... double time!" The four penguins hastily departed from the lemurs' clearing, avoiding the usual path, and disappeared into the jungle.


	9. Fight Club

Coming down the treacherous rocky part of the mountainside, even down on his haunches, the zebra's hooves were slipping on the rocks. He knew he shouldn't have tried this by himself, but now without Alex he had no choice. Alex; that sure was a sore subject. Marty tried not to think about it. Although it was the wrong direction, he started walking sideways on the rocks, with better success. The rocky ground eventually turned to soil and grass, which gave him a bit better footing. But then the terrain became even steeper than on the rocks. Marty suddenly lost his footing on some loose dirt and gravel, and down he went sliding out of control. It became a near vertical slope and there was no stopping, his legs scrambling in vain. The slope leveled out at one point, but only for a short distance, like the bottom of a sliding board. He slid right through it and off an edge, tumbling in mid-air for a second or two, then crashed through countless leaves and stems and branches, eventually coming to a stop in the thick, overgrown, mountainside foliage.

By a miracle, the zebra was not seriously injured in the fall... but now he was definitely lost. The thick jungle vegetation gave little or no view of the sky or the mountain, and he was directionally confused. One thing was certain: he couldn't backtrack. For the next several hours, Marty wandered aimlessly through unfamiliar territory, frustrated to tears, trying to get back down to the beach.

Marty eventually stumbled across what seemed to be a trail, and began following it. But it led him to a small chasm, a dead-end drop-off, where he could go no farther. His only choice was to turn back and search for another way to try, or somehow cross this chasm, which was about 20 feet across. He didn't even know if this was the right direction anyway. Not wanting to risk eating any of the strange plants along the way, poor Marty had had nothing to eat all day, his legs were tired, and he was very upset from the terrible argument with Alex. Finding a long, hanging jungle vine nearby, he decided to give it a try and go forward. He swung across the chasm, successfully making it to the other side, but crashed into heavy vegetation and banged his knee on a tree trunk. Lost, lonely, and feeling unloved, Marty's emotional containment caved in and he sat there crying in the privacy of the jungle, bawling his eyes out.

After a few minutes, he got back up and trudged on, very depressed and still sniffling. The zebra's eyes were so blurry with tears that he didn't see clearly what lay ahead, and he slipped again and fell down another steep embankment, ending up in more foliage with no path. Almost ready to give up, he got up one more time, and then suddenly broke through a barrier of tall weeds, coming out into a clearing. It was the same clearing where he and Alex had met just yesterday. Familiar territory at last!

Getting a second wind, the zebra now moved quickly to the trail that led to the beach. It had taken him the entire afternoon to get back here, but somehow he had made it. "_Someone must be watching over me,"_ he thought to himself, feeling profoundly thankful. Hungry, tired, and emotionally crushed at this point, the zebra just wanted to retreat to his cabana and be alone. But he fought against those feelings, not wanting to further divide the group by playing the antisocial game himself.

Marty arrived at the beach, finding it quiet with no one there. The cabana was abandoned as well. He entered and fixed himself some supper, as it was now early evening, wolfing down the leaves and grass heartily. The meal raised his spirits slightly, and he left again, heading for Julien's place in hopes of finding the others.

On the way, Marty had flashbacks about his frightening experience of being totally lost in the mountainside woods, realizing that he might not have made it back. Without Alex, survival here was going to be difficult. _"Maybe Alex is right,"_ he thought to himself. _"Maybe I should try seeing things his way. Maybe we really don't belong here after all."_

Approaching the lemurs' clearing, the zebra paused, took a deep breath, then continued on and entered. Melman was there, hanging out over by the fruit table. Oddly, there was no music tonight, so it was unusually quiet. Marty walked up to Melman and surprised him.

"Marty!" the giraffe exclaimed, greeting the zebra with a hug. "We've been looking all over for you. Where've you been?"

"I- I g- got lost," the zebra stammered, finding it difficult to talk. Melman sensed he was upset and changed the subject in hopes of making him feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, the subject he picked was_Alex_.

"Remember how Alex used to bounce around all over the place, hyper happy?" asked Melman. "Back at the zoo he was so excited every morning, we didn't need an alarm clock."

"Yeah, I sure do," answered Marty. "I really miss the old Alex."

"So do I. But he was back yesterday... for a while, at least. After you fixed his neck, he was the happiest I've seen in a long time. Bouncing around-"

"Bouncing?"

"Oh, you should have seen it Marty. He was doing handsprings, backflips, and making 'snow angels' in the sand. I guess you might have been there to see it if Gloria and I hadn't chased you off. You know I'm really sorry about that."

"Hey man, it's cool, don't worry 'bout it," said Marty, slapping Melman a 'five' with his hoof. "I got to spend time with the old Alex yesterday. It was good. Yeah, Alex and I had a real good time yesterday." Marty's throat began to get a little choked up.

"Is Alex coming to the party?" inquired Melman.

Marty paused, not able to speak right away. "I don't know," he finally said, "haven't seen him since about noon. I've kind of been avoiding him... we had a few words."

"That makes sense," said the giraffe. "I said 'hi' to him earlier and he just grunted and walked past."

"You've seen him?" asked Marty, surprised.

"Yeah, and he's in another one of those 'real winner' moods."

"Well, he's had a bad day," defended Marty.

"Again? I think Alex has PMS," suggested Melman.

"Hey, watch it, that's my best friend you're talking about!"

"No, think about it, Marty. You go to talk to him, and he either 'bites your head off' or starts bawling. Sounds like PMS to me."

"Hmm. Well yeah, that's true..."

"Did you say he bites off heads?" Julien questioned with interest, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Oh come on Melman, guys don't get that. He's just up-"

"Well there's our little lost zebra!" said Gloria, walking over and giving Marty a friendly hug, who desperately needed some love. "I missed you today, guy. We were wondering where you got off to," she said, patting his side. "My goodness, Marty, you poor thing... what happened to you?" she added with concern, noting his shabby condition, and picking burrs out of his mane. Marty cherished her tender loving care but didn't know how to answer. "Now, what don't guys get?" she asked, coming in on the conversation.

"PMS," said Melman. "We think Alex has PMS."

"I do not think that," said Marty.

"That's not a very nice thing to say about your friend, guys," Gloria said, wishing to defend Alex in his absence.

"Speaking of the lion, where is he?" asked Julien, pretty much being ignored.

"So what started the trouble this time, if you don't mind me asking?" Melman asked Marty.

"Uh...," said Marty, debating how much information he should share. "Uh... maybe because I made him laugh against his will?"

"You made him laugh today?" Melman asked. "No way! How did you manage to do that?"

"Well, he was-"

"Hi guys," said a familiar, subdued voice emerging into the lemur's clearing. It was Alex, and he was impeccably groomed. "Not talking about me now, are you? Hi, Marty."

Marty wouldn't answer. He was hurt and upset, and was waiting for an apology for the rotten way he was treated earlier. He was willing to forgive his friend, but wanted a genuine apology, and rightly so. As Alex approached them, Marty walked away from the fruit table, where the little threesome had been gathered , and stood over by some small trees, looking away from Alex. Not knowing what had transpired earlier, Gloria thought Marty was acting a bit rude.

"Alex!" Gloria said, smiling, giving him some female charm with a hug and a kiss. "Good to see you! I'm so glad you joined us. My, you're looking sharp this evening."

"Thanks Gloria," replied Alex. "Nice to see someone can be nice!" he added, deliberately loud enough for Marty to hear, looking over in his direction.

"Don't you have something to say?" Marty asked, now looking at them.

"Yeah, I do," said Alex. "Got anything to eat around here?" Julien's ears perked up.

"All kinds of goodies here on the table," Julien nervously said, sensing that he had a dissatisfied patron on his hands. "We aim to please. Nothing but our best for the New York giants!"

"All I see here is fruit," said Alex, picking up a pineapple. "Where are the penguins?"

"Uh, actually I haven't seen them," said Melman. "I don't think they're here."

"That's just great," said Alex, who hadn't eaten all day, looking over the prickly pineapple. He sniffed it and almost tried to bite it, but then made a face and uttered in a disgusted tone, "Nothing but the same old crap. Gross!" To everyone's surprise, Alex drew back his arm and threw the pineapple over in Marty's direction. Marty winced as it smacked hard against one of the small tree trunks near him, splitting apart and spraying some pineapple juice and bits onto his right side and into his right eye.

"I can't eat this crap!" ranted Alex in an irritated tone. "Man, I just got here, and there's nothing to eat. What kind of a party is this? Where's the music? Where's some real food? I want meat!! I'm hungry!" Julien looked nervous again, now filled with Maurice's heebie jeebies, and everyone got quiet.

Marty glared at Alex angrily with his right eye shut and tearing from the tangy fruit juice, then turned his neck back around and licked the pineapple splatter off his side. Normally he would have found the smashing of fruit funny, but the waste of their host's good food was offensive, plus he was mad at Alex to begin with. "Well if you don't like it, then why don't you leave and find something you do like?" he yelled, blinking his burning eye.

"Yeah, maybe I just will," said Alex, turning to leave.

"Aww, Alex hon, please don't go," Gloria begged as Alex starting walking away.

"You know, I think that Melman was right!" the zebra yelled after him. "You_do_ have PMS!!"

Marty picked up the split, floppy, drippy half of pineapple lying on the ground and hurled it at Alex, hitting him on the back of the head. Marty put a hoof to his mouth, snickering.

Alex froze in his steps. "What was that?" he demanded, reaching back and feeling the sticky mess, recognizing the scent. "That freakin' better not even be all over the back of my mane," he said.

Marty laughed out loud despite his anger. "That oughta sweeten up your sour disposition!" he yelled.

Alex stood still for several moments, causing an atmosphere of suspense to build as everyone was watching to see what would happen. One could almost feel the anger in the air. Then, Alex started to silently walk away from the party again, disappearing into the woods. "What a sour puss," muttered Marty. Gloria looked over at him and gave him the hairy eyeball of disapproval. Marty just shrugged.

Then, just as things began to settle down again, a loud, ferocious roar rang out, seizing everyone with fear. Being nearest to the sound, Marty's ears instinctively flattened. _"Fight or flight? Fight or flight?"_ his survival instincts asked him. It all happened so fast. He frightfully looked up to see a lion pouncing out of the woods, sailing through the air at incredible speed, coming directly at him. _"Flight!! Flight!!"_ his instincts yelled to him, with a surge of adrenalin. But it was too late. He only had time to gasp and lift one leg in a failed effort to run before the lion plowed into him with a thud. Marty took the hit and fell, rolling violently down an embankment with the attacking lion clinging to him. They both rolled into the large weeds and plants at the bottom of the embankment, disappearing from sight.

Gloria stared on in shock. "Was that-?"

"Yes, I think it was Alex!" Melman answered, in a state of panic. "This is terrible. Terrible! Oh, I _knew_ something like this was going to happen, I just knew it!"

Poor Marty screamed bloody murder from behind the large leaves that were blocking everyone's view. Many of the lemurs also screamed and scattered, mostly the females, but some of the larger males climbed nearby trees to try and get a better view of what was going on. "Fight! Fight! Fight! ..." they chanted. The large leaves shook and rustled with shadowy silhouettes behind them, as awful sounds of vicious snarling, crackling, ripping, and whacking could be heard- and of course, Marty's horrible screams. All before the crowd of horrified onlookers.

"Maurice," Julien said to him, "the lion is out of control. Call security!"

"We don't have a security team," answered Maurice.

"Oh. Very well, then get the bouncer!"

"Julien, the lion_is_ the bouncer. There is nothing we can do. Our striped friend doesn't have a chance. I warned you about this!"

"This is such a savage catastrophe," lamented Julien with his hands on his head. "Oh, poor Mr. Marty. We are all going to die!"

Suddenly, the large rustling leaves that had been blocking everyone's view burst apart in shreds, and a mud-smeared zebra rocketed back out into the clearing, heading towards the food table. He was followed by a very angry lion, who was in hot pursuit.

"Run, Marty, run!" they all yelled, trying to give him cheers of encouragement. Maurice was amazed that he was still alive.

Marty launched into the air, in a grand flying leap to go over the fruit table. He would have cleared it, but Alex caught up to him in mid-air and came down on top of him, crashing them both down hard onto the table and overturning it, scattering the food.

"Aww man, that had to hurt!" commented some nearby tree-bound lemurs watching the fight. "Fight! Fight! Fight! ..." they chanted. "Get 'im, Marty!" some of them cheered, pulling for the zebra, but nobody did anything to help. What could they do? None of them were any match for the lion, not even as a group. So no one did anything but watch in horror.

"Brenda!" called Melman in a panic. "I mean, Gloria! Why isn't anyone doing anything to help? We've got to do something!"

"Don't look at me, Melman," answered Gloria. "I screwed up twice over the last two days when I tried to interfere for what I thought was in the best interest with these two. Nope. Not doin' that again. They'll have to settle their own differences."

The snarling lion and zebra rolled around wrestling on the ground, mashing the fruit that had scattered from the overturned table. Alex got on top of Marty's back, putting him in a chokehold. Julien grabbed a coconut and went to climb a tree, but Gloria grabbed a hold of his tail and stopped him. "Don't you dare hit him on the head with that," she said. "I know Alex; he won't hurt Marty."

Julien looked to Maurice, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Very well," said Julien to the hippo, "you are the boss. His blood will be on your hands."

_"You'd better not hurt him, Alex,"_ Gloria muttered to herself. _"My reputation is on the line!"_

Alex picked up Marty and body-slammed him back down onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He climbed back on top of the zebra, who was now lying belly up, and sat on his thighs to keep him from kicking. "Owww! My legs! You're hurting my legs!" screamed Marty, struggling to speak.

"I'm not hurting you!" Alex growled down at him, pinning the zebra's forelegs to the ground with his paws. "We're just getting started!" Then without looking away, he spoke louder so that the crowd could hear. "He'll say anything to get away, 'cause he knows what's coming!"

"Wh-what's coming?" Marty fearfully asked, with a quivering lower lip, which was also bleeding.

Then something snapped inside the lion. Hungry Alex suddenly had an elevated burst of anger surge through him, and flew into a rage. He let go of Marty's front legs and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck with both paws, claws extended, yanking his head up off the ground. Gloria gasped when she saw the lion showing his teeth, along with the other onlookers who were dreadfully wondering what was going to happen. Julien covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers.

"Why aren't you laughing?" the lion yelled viciously at the zebra, giving him a shake. "Think it was funny putting that shit in my hair? Hmmm? Well, was it? Was it??" Marty grimaced, nervously shaking his head "no" to each yelled question. "Not so funny now, is it?" Alex continued. "Is it??" Then Alex started shaking him violently, with clenched teeth, and slammed him back down hard onto the ground.

When Marty's back and head hit the ground, he lost his composure and started crying hard, which had a stunning effect on the lion. In fear for his life, Marty began slobbering words through his tears. "Please don't hurt me, Alex!" he begged. "Oh, God, please don't hurt me!"

Normally timid and fearful Melman could remain silent no longer. "Alex, stop it!!" he yelled. "You're terrifying him! What in God's name is wrong with you? Stop it!!"

Paralyzed with fear, Marty's view of Alex hovering over him shrunk into tunnel vision. The sobbing zebra began to hyperventilate and lost control of his bladder, among other bodily functions. But Melman's yelling, or more likely Marty's crying, seemed to have affected the lion to some degree. Alex stopped his violent behavior and just sat there on Marty's legs, looking dazed and confused.

Now, Melman was mad. "Ooo. Wow," he said sarcastically, slowly clapping his hooves together in mock applause. "I am _so_ impressed. You beat up an innocent, gentle zebra. Bravo."

"What? No I didn't," dazed Alex slowly responded. "I- I didn't hit him. I never punched him. I didn't beat him up... did I?"

Melman began going through his list of rationalizations. "You slapped him across the muzzle. You repeatedly slammed him into the ground. You literally scared the crap out of him. And you made him cry," Melman said. "That clearly counts as 'beat up' in my book. Why, I'll bet he has bruises all over him. Poor Marty. I just hope to God there's no broken bones!"

"Marty? He's right here!" the confused lion defended, full of denial. "Look. He's not beat up. He's fine, see?"

"Oh, really?" said Melman, cynically.

"Hey, Marty, old buddy," Alex began nervously, "you're okay, right?" He picked up the zebra's limp left foreleg and gently shook it, with no response. "C'mon man, stop playing around. Snap out of it!" Marty just lay there staring up into space in a catatonic state with his tongue hanging out, breathing irregularly.

"Oh my God, I think he's in a coma!" exclaimed the giraffe. Tears flowed down Gloria's face as she beheld her beaten, unresponsive friend. Boos of disapproval began resounding throughout the crowd of onlookers surrounding them.

"You beat up a poor defenseless zebra," Melman continued, driving home his point. "That's low, man. That is wrong."

Julien brought a bowl of cold water from the stream and splashed it into Marty's face. The cold water revived him, and he came out of his comatose state and began to sputter.

"See, he's okay," insisted Alex.

"No thanks to you," Gloria retorted, finally speaking up. "All right, Alex, that's enough. Get off of him. You're in big trouble, mister."

Alex just sat there on Marty's legs, still dazed, and starting to feel embarrassment. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose with a silly look on his face.

"What is wrong with him?" asked Melman.

"He's drunk!" said Gloria in a tone of disgust.

"Can't be," said Melman. "Alex doesn't drink!"

Alex bent down a little closer to the zebra below him and sniffed, then started waving the air with his paw. "Whew, Marty, you smell like a barnyard!" commented the lion, as if nothing had happened. "Did you step in something? Better check your hooves there, buddy. You stink!"

Marty coughed and sniffled, and the dazed expression in his eyes turned to anger. "Shutup, Alex!" he yelled. "Get offa' me, man! Get your dirty butt off me! Gross!"

Alex slowly got off of Marty and stood up, backing away from him. Lying there on his back in smeary, grimy mashed fruit, the zebra didn't even want to get up. He was in pain, he was exhausted, everyone was looking at him, and he stank. In his terror, Marty had peed all over his belly, not to mention the dirty mess under his legs, which by now were completely numb from the heavy lion's crushing weight sitting on them. He was embarrassed to the point that he wished he could just melt into the ground and disappear. Then a tingly sensation rushed through his legs as their sense of feeling began to return.

"Maurice," said Julien to his number one assistant-advisor, "did you not see the way the great grey one handled that brute? She will be an excellent choice for our new bouncer, no?"

"Alex!" ordered Gloria sternly. "Help him up! That's the least you can do."

The lion rolled the filthy zebra over and helped him to his shaky feet. Marty angrily tried to kick Alex in the shin, but his legs were still half numb and he missed his target, accidentally kicking the lion in the worst possible place, between the legs. Alex keeled over in pain, holding himself, almost passing out from the blow.

Julien found that very humorous and released his tension by laughing out loud, but then suddenly stopped as he saw the angry hippo scowling down at him.

"Marty! I can't believe you just did that to him!" Gloria scolded. "This fight is over, understand?"

"It- it was an accident," the zebra replied, "I wasn't aiming for-"

"As if that makes it all the better," said Gloria. "You were still trying to kick him."

"Deliberate or not, he deserved that," said Melman.

Alex and Marty stood about 15 feet apart, scowling and refusing to look at each other. Gloria stood there glaring at both of them. "Look at you two," she lectured. "Grown adult animals, acting like a couple of immature brats. I oughtta grab a hold of your tails and paddle the both of you!"

"He started it!" whined Alex, pointing to Marty, still holding himself with his other paw. "Throwing that sticky garbage in my hair. And telling everyone that I have PMS!!"

"Well you've certainly been acting like it!!" Gloria yelled back at him. "Now I want to hear some apologies from both of you."

Both animals remained quiet, continuing with their nasty scowls. Marty stuck his tongue out at Alex.

"I'm waiting!" said Gloria, becoming impatient with their stubborn lack of response. "Your choice, apologize to each other, or kiss and make up, right here, right now, in front of everyone. Well? I'm waiting!"

"Or what?" Alex flippantly remarked.

"You get paddled in front of everyone," answered Gloria. "And it won't be love taps, either. Your choice. So what's it going to be, gentlemen? Do I hear some apologies, or do I get out the paddle?"

Marty was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry, Alex," he began. "I'm sorry... that you're such a freakin' jerk!"

"All right, gentlemen, have it your way," Gloria said, shaking her head in disappointment. "Julien, do you have anything I can use for a paddle?" The lemur king raised a finger saying, "One moment, please," and went to see what he could find.

"Way to go, smarty stripes!" Alex sneered. "Now we're both gonna get it!"

"Shutup, Alex!" Marty hissed. "Just shutup! I said it before, I'll say it again, you're fit to be tied, man. You're fit to be tied!!"

Maurice had a nice thick stick that he had found earlier, hard and unusually very straight. Though it was a bit big for him to handle, he had been carrying it around with him, pondering what noble use he could put it to. Julien approached him, saying, "Maurice, give me your stick!" The aye-aye reluctantly handed over his prized possession, and Julien handed it over to Gloria.

"Hmm... well, yes, I was hoping for something flatter, but I guess this will do," the hippo said, smacking the stick into her left palm. "Mmm-hmm. Oh yeah, babycakes, this is gonna hurt! This is one fine-lookin' stick. I'll try not to break it."

Maurice worried about the fate of his stick, while Julien eagerly watched the hippo to see if she actually had the gall to take the stick to Alex's butt in a public paddling. "But surely," he asked her, "you're not going to use it on Mr. Marty, are you?"

"These two have to learn the consequences of behaving like this. Yes, they're both gonna get it!"

"But Marty wasn't the one doing the beating!" piped in Melman. "That's not fair, Brend- I mean, Gloria!"

Gloria turned around to face Melman with her hands on her hips, eyeing him. "Just who is this Brenda character, anyway?" she asked sternly. "I didn't ask for your opinion, Melman. Look, I'm not convinced this is all Alex's fault."

"Oh yeah, right, that sounds like good old USA justice to me," ranted Melman. "Arrest them both, humiliate and punish the victim, let the attacker off scott-free!"

"Melman, you're not helping!"

"No, _you_ look, Gloria," continued Melman, worriedly keeping a wary eye on Alex from a distance. "This is crazy! They're both adults- what is this going to accomplish? If you crack Alex with that stick, you're just going to make him madder, he won't learn anything from the experience. Hello? He's a lion, Gloria... look what he just did to Marty! This isn't a good idea. And Marty's getting the short end of the stick here!"

"I'm not putting this to a vote," Gloria said, standing her ground. "This has to be dealt with, and it looks like I got stuck with the job. All they have to do is apologize, but they won't. I think I _am_ being fair about this!"

"All right," said Melman, "all right. You go ahead then and punish Alex. Punish him! For what he's done here tonight, I agree, he deserves it. Go over there and beat his butt- if you have the guts. I'll even count the strokes for you... from way over here, that is. But if you try to take that stick to Marty's butt, you'll have to go through me first. Marty didn't _do_ anything!"

Gloria sensed that popular opinion had sided with Melman's defense of Marty. She paused a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and gave up, discarding the stick by tossing it backwards over her right shoulder. Maurice came over to claim his property, grateful that it had not been broken.

"I better go," said Alex, starting to walk away.

"Oh no," Gloria said, grabbing a hold of the lion's tail, "you're not walking away from this one, buster!"

"Let him go. Yes, Mr. Alex, you are out of here!" ordered Julien.

"If the lion leaves, we all leave," stated Gloria emphatically, determined to keep them all together.

Julien looked over to Maurice, who was shaking his head 'no', silently mouthing, _"he cannot stay here."_ But the king wanted Gloria to remain, and made his own decision. "Very well," said Julien. "The lion stays."


	10. Time Out

The fight was over, and the lemurs began to disperse. Gloria had her hands full as mediator between the two angry animals, and was getting stressed out. She had ordered Alex to pick up the table and clean up the filthy mess they had made. As Alex righted the table, Marty looked on, aching, beginning to see stars, and feeling quite sick. He couldn't believe that this, the worst day of his life, had come only 24 hours after what he had considered the best day of his life. The beaten zebra started to gag, and ran off into the woods for privacy, losing his entire supper in the bushes. Gloria called after him, but got no response. 

The lemur king was impressed. Nobody ordered Alex around, but Gloria was doing just that. Julien was ecstatic, grabbing Maurice and saying, "Do you not see how she orders around that brute? Such confidence, such authority! I am thinking..." Maurice really didn't want to hear any more 'brilliant ideas' and tried to tune it out.

Gloria wanted to go after Marty to help him, but was afraid that if she did that, disgruntled Alex would take off to who knows where, and possibly get himself in more trouble. The scene of the dead lion from her bad dream the other morning suddenly popped into her mind, gripping her with heightened concern. So she decided to send Melman to find Marty to help and watch over him, while she would stay with Alex and keep him occupied.

"Melman, go get with Marty and stay with him... check the severity of his wounds. Don't let him run off somewhere, keep him here at the party. We all need to stay together. I'm going to have to stay with Alex and keep him out of trouble tonight. I wish I could be with Marty, but-"

"I understand," said Melman, grateful he wasn't the one chosen to be stuck with Alex. "We hooved critters have to keep together. I'll give Marty your best regards. Good luck."

Alex felt very out of place and wanted to leave, beginning to make excuses, but Gloria cut him off. "No way," she said firmly, grabbing Alex by the paw to lead him away. "You're my date tonight, sugar!"

Gloria and Alex ran into Julien on the way, who tried to address her, but she cut him off. "Have any good place we can go around here to be alone?" she asked.

Julien told them about a private place up on top of a small cliff there in the lemurs' clearing. Called _Lookout Point_, it was their equivalent of "lover's lane". Alex was less than impressed. Gloria liked the suggestion and drug Alex away with her up to the cliff point.

Julien enthusiastically approached Melman, telling him about his plan to make Gloria the new bouncer and high protector. Melman, who was in a hurry himself, held up a hoof, shaking his head. "Now is not a good time to discuss this, Julien," he said, then took off in search of Marty.

* * *

Some distance away from the ledge, Gloria sat with her back against a tree with Alex sitting beside her. It was indeed a very private place, and the chances of being disturbed here were very remote. Alex had settled slightly but was still very unhappy, and was very bored. He put up with quietly sitting next to Gloria for about five minutes, then stood up.

"Sorry Gloria, I am not into this," he said with a frown on his face. "I'm outta here!"

"Oh, no you don't!" said Gloria, grabbing a hold of his tail as he started walking away.

"Oww!" exclaimed the lion as his sore tail unexpectedly pulled tight. "Let go of my tail, dammit!"

"What did you just say to me??" snapped Gloria angrily, standing to her feet. Then the two of them went at it. Gloria grabbed a hold of Alex and tackled him to the ground. The two wrestled briefly before she pinned him, holding him down with her weight which was her best fighting asset.

Alex screamed in pain with the heavy hippo partially on top of him. "Get off!" he yelled. "Get off!!"

Gloria laid on Alex for a minute, almost squeezing the breath out of him, then drug him back over to the tree and attempted to sit him on her lap. A big breath revived the lion's strength, and he resisted the attempt with all his might. Gripping him from behind, she had an arm around his neck and the other around his waist, trying to push him down into a sitting position. Alex was not going to do it. Frowning crossly, and standing with his legs spread apart, he stiffened himself as if a 2 year old stubbornly refusing to sit in a stroller or high chair.

"Relax!" coaxed Gloria. "Come on Alex, sit... I'm not trying to hurt you! Bend!" The lion only responded with angry growls, maintaining his resistance.

"Bend your butt!" Gloria commanded, still getting no cooperation. "Bend over Alex,... or _I'll_ bend you over, and believe me you don't want that!" Gloria wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish that task, but delivered the threat anyway. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her right hip as the tense lion involuntarily dug a claw into her sensitive flesh.

"Owww!" Gloria yelled in pain, then kneed him in the groin up from below, elbowed him hard in the side, and forcefully slammed his butt down into her lap. "Now sit!!" she yelled at him, pulling his head into her chest and holding it there so he couldn't open his mouth to bite. The lion was very strong but she had him, for the moment anyway, forcing him to sit in her lap. "Sit here and behave!" she continued yelling at the fuming angry lion, "or you're gonna sit here with me the rest of the night… understand? You sit and that's it!"

The two maintained this position for a long time. An hour later, Alex was still sitting on Gloria's lap, but had cooled down considerably and no longer was being forcibly restrained. But when he tried to get up again, Gloria clamped onto him tightly. "No, Alex," she said to him firmly. "I said no! You're not going anywhere. Look, I'm not trying to be mean, Alex, I'm trying to keep you out of trouble. You're not very popular around here at the moment."

Poor Alex gave up and slumped back against Gloria's chest. "Can't I even go to the bathroom?" he said, in a pathetic, defeated tone.

"Oh- is that what... do you really have to?" Gloria asked him suspiciously.

Alex nodded sheepishly. "It's not like I wanted to announce it to the whole world," he answered, with an embarrassed expression on his face.

"Oh," replied Gloria. "Alright, I'm sorry Alex, yes, go. But then I want you to come right back here. Tell you what, I have to go check on something myself, so I'll be back in a few minutes. Now listen, I'm trusting you, Alex... I expect to find you here under this tree when I get back… okay?"

Alex agreed, and the two went their separate ways. Alex went into the woods, and Gloria headed down into the lower level of the lemurs' clearing to see how Marty was doing. As she went along, she noticed there was blood all over her right arm, hip, and right leg. The single claw penetration had caused a nasty tear in her right hip which was still bleeding. She knew Alex hadn't done that on purpose, but it would need to be treated right away. She decided she would try to hide her injury from the lion lest it make him feel even worse than he already did.

* * *

Relieved, Alex stood there in the darkening woods, feeling the pull of his wild instincts, tempted to take off and run away. He almost did, but could not in good conscience, remembering his promise to Gloria. So he meandered his way back to the tree, and crept over to the edge of the cliff overlook, to get a sneak peek of what was going on down below. In the distance he saw Marty standing with faithful pal Melman, and Gloria greeting Marty with a hug. Julien was there also, talking with them, giving Marty a gentle pat on the side.

Alex felt very unwanted and left out, and went back to the tree and started crying. Trying to get his mind on something else, he started thinking "zoo" again, which only intensified his sorrow and weeping. He held onto the tree trunk, whom he considered his only friend at the moment, and sobbed. After slobbering on the tree for a few minutes, his crying subsided, and he let go. The tree was wet, his face was wet, and his eyes were red.

Alex sat there leaning back against the tree waiting for Gloria, who was a long time in coming. She was taking a lot longer than a few minutes. The lion's empty tummy rumbled loudly. "I'm _so_ hungry," he said aloud to himself, with concern in his voice. "Where are the penguins? This isn't good... I hope nothing bad happens again!" Alex noticed how filthy dirty he had gotten again, due to his tussle with Marty. A bath was in order, and it gave him something constructive to do to clear his mind while he waited.

Gloria finally returned to the cliff lookout point, glad to find Alex waiting there for her, washing himself. She sat down next to him and tried to help him with the back of his mane, which was indeed a sticky mess. "Thank you for waiting for me," she said. "I knew I could trust you."

Alex stopped his licking and allowed Gloria to work on his mane from behind. "So how is old smarty stripes?" he asked.

"If you're referring to Marty," she began, "he's... well, he's, uh,... you know, Alex, I don't know what happened with you two, but you could try being a little nicer to him, starting right now. He is your friend, after all."

"I have no friends," replied Alex, who immediately became uncomfortable with the conversation and wished to change the subject.

"Well, I'm your friend," said Gloria, sorry to hear that Alex felt that way. She began gently stroking the fur of his mane, but he abruptly pushed her arm away. "Don't touch me," he said. "I feel really weird right now."

"Alright. Now, what's the deal here with you tonight, Alex? What was that fight all about?"

Alex just shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno," he mumbled.

"C'mon, talk to me, Alex... what made you so mad? What is going on with you two?"

"I guess I just lost my head... I'm sorry," he said.

"You sure lost it all right," said Gloria. "Know what Melman thinks?"

"I can just guess... that I have PMS, that I'm a mean crazy bastard, that I can't be trusted, that I'm psychotic? I'm sure he hates me now, in any case. I'm sure everyone hates me. No, I really don't care to know what Melman thinks."

"No, Alex, we don't hate you," reassured Gloria. "Melman's theory is absurd, anyway, so never mind about that. Marty has injuries and is limping, but he'll-"

"Injuries?" Alex appeared surprised. "Why, what happened?"

"What happened?" Gloria repeated, surprised he had asked the question. "Oh my God, Alex, don't you remember?" she asked him, taking the lion's soft paw gently and holding it.

"Surely you don't mean… well, I know we had a little tussle... Marty smart-mouthed me and I had to put him in his place. Yeah, I pushed him down and... but that's all, right? I mean, I didn't hit him that hard or anything... did I?"

"Alex," Gloria began gently, "I don't want to upset you, but you did, hon. You beat him up bad. You _beat the shit out of him_, excuse my French. I know you've felt like doing that ever since day one on this island. I sure hope you've finally gotten it out of your system."

"No. No!" Alex said, shocked at what Gloria was telling him.

"Alex, you almost killed him," Gloria continued with difficulty, "right in front of everyone at the party. You had everyone scared. Now what was this all about? Throwing pineapple juice in your mane? If Marty had done that to me... well, I don't know what I would have done. I can understand his rude behavior angered you, but to do that... what is going on with the two of you?"

A period of silence followed her question, to the point that the two animals could hear each other breathing. It was indeed unusually quiet in the lemurs' clearing tonight. No music, no dancing… Gloria wondered what was going on.

"I wanna go home, Gloria," he finally said in a subdued voice. "I just wanna go home."

"I know you do, Alex... all of us do."

"Not all of us, Gloria. Marty doesn't want to leave."

"Oh... oh… now I'm starting to see. Well, brilliant deduction, Holmes. And this surprises you? Marty's loved this place ever since he got here. It's his dream. As close as the two of you are, you can't see that?"

"Yeah, I saw it... I guess I just didn't want to believe it. Really pisses me off."

"Alex, you can't force Marty to see things your way. He really likes it here... and he's adapted quite well, better than the rest of us."

"That's because we know we don't belong here. But I did give him the choice. Remember King Julien's sendoff party for us? Remember what Marty said to us just before we got on the boat that didn't go anywhere? He said it doesn't matter where we are-"

"As long as we're together," finished Gloria.

"Exactly! That's what he said after I asked him straight out, do you want to stay on the island or go back home. Remember that? I gave him the choice. And he chose New York. And he even got on the boat with us. That liar... that little traitor!"

"So you're afraid to leave without him... aren't you?" Gloria stated. She waited for a reply, but the lion was speechless.

"Listen Alex," Gloria began firmly, "I'm not telling you what to do, but I don't want to see you treat Marty like that again. Ever. Do you understand me?"

Alex nodded quietly, otherwise motionless. Gloria gave Alex a little hug and ran her hand down his smooth furry back, then discovered the swollen blood blister on his tail from earlier in the day, which she knew nothing about.

"Alex?" Gloria exclaimed with concern, "what happened to your poor tail? Is this welt from the fight?"

"Uh… no…" Alex stammered, "it's… I mean, earlier, Marty was… uh-"

"Alex, did Marty do this to you?"

"Umm… well, yeah-," Alex muttered, before his voice got choked out from the lump that was forming in his throat.

"I'm going to have to have a talk with him about this," stated the hippo, in her continued attempt to be fair in diffusing the conflict.

It got quiet between the two animals again as Alex felt the pressure in his head building to a climax, and his vision got blurry. Alex sniffled a few times, then burst into tears. Gloria instinctively reached out to the sobbing lion and held him.

"It's not Marty's fault!" he cried, delivering a brief, disjointed, but truthful account of the day's earlier events. "There was an accident earlier today, Marty tried to help me, and… oh Gloria, he was so kind and I was so mean to him… I'm such a monster… what have I done? I've alienated my best friend… now it'll never be the same between us again!" he wailed, holding his head.

"Now, now, Alex, it's going to be okay," she soothingly said to him, holding and gently rocking him as he wept. "Thank you for being honest with me, I kinda thought it was something like that. Listen, this was a bad situation, but Marty'll come around, I know he will… you'll see."

"You really think so?" said the heartbroken lion with a tiny spark of hope. His crying was diminishing.

"Yes I do," answered Gloria with a voice of confidence. "Just give it some time."

Alex sputtered and stopped crying, still sniffling a bit. At last, he stood up. "Well, I guess I better go and apologize," he said, wiping his eyes.

"Tomorrow," said Gloria. "Talk to him tomorrow. Given the situation, I think it's best for tonight if we let things cool down. Okay?"

"Oh," said Alex, disappointed, yet respectful of Gloria's insight on the matter. "Well, okay, if you think it's best."

Gloria nodded and took Alex's paw, and coaxing him to sit back down with her. Finally, the lion was calm. She pulled Alex up against her, gently stroking his fur.

* * *

"Gloria?" a voice resounded in the dark, perking up the lion's ears. It was Melman. "Gloria? Oh, thank goodness, there you are. Julien said you were up here somewhere. Hey, listen, sorry to disturb you but I need your help- it's urgent. Marty's getting worse, we need to get him into the icy stream right away to try and stop the swell-"

"Shhh!" Gloria was waving frantically and silently mouthing for Melman to be quiet as he spoke. He realized this and stopped, albeit too late, then saw the shocked expression on Alex's face, concluding that Alex was unaware of what was happening.

"Alex, hon," said Gloria nervously, "I have to, uh, go check on something again… you know, take another potty break, I gotta go go go! I'll be back shortly, just like before, okay?"

"What's going on, Gloria?" the lion demanded, frightened by what he had heard. "Is something wrong with Marty? Look, let me come down with you, I can lift-"

"It's okay Alex, we can handle it," Gloria replied unconvincingly. "Remember what I said. Tomorrow. You can talk to him tomorrow."

"But this is different," the lion pleaded. "Something is wrong, isn't it?. Let me go with you and help!"

"We've already discussed this. No, I really think it's best to let things settle for tonight. Stay here and wait for me, I'll be back."

"Please?"

"No, Alex," said Gloria firmly. "You leave Marty alone."

Alex stood there stunned, beginning to realize his presence was unwanted. Gloria hated parting like this. She had just gotten him calmed down, and now he was upset all over again. But she had no choice. Gloria hurriedly departed with Melman, leaving worried, miserable Alex by the tree at Lookout Point.


	11. Live and Let Die

Alone in the dark there on Lookout Point, Alex sat with his back against the tree and his head in his forepaws, worried about Marty's condition and riddled with guilt. Crying wasn't making him feel any better about the situation; in fact, it was making his head hurt, so he stopped. Being careful with his claws, he gripped his head, and stared into space saying repetitive phrases like, "oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…," and "what have I done?"

Alex was fuzzy on details and could only remember fragments of what had gone down earlier. He was still somewhat amazed that tonight's scrap had become such a big deal with everyone. After all, this was not the first time the two animals had fought. Even back at the zoo, there had been occasional tense times. Marty was very easy-going and cheerfully up-beat, but he was also very stubborn (a natural trait). Sometimes he got sick and tired of Alex's constant bossy dominance and would get lippy with him, which Alex perceived as a challenge to his authority. Although considerably over-matched, Marty usually wouldn't back down, and this would stir up a very short-lived wrestling match between the two. But never before had the fighting been vicious and violent like this.

Alex had been sitting against the tree waiting for Gloria to return for over an hour now… or was it two? He had lost track of the time. Twilight was gone and night had officially come. All this waiting was uncomfortably keeping him in suspense. He could, of course, ignore Gloria's advice and just go down into the lemurs' camp himself and see what was going on with Marty, but he knew he wasn't welcome there and decided to remain out of sight. "Where is that hippo at?" he muttered out loud with concern, knowing that it was unusual for Gloria to not keep her word. Something important must be occupying her… or something serious, rather. He sure hoped not.

"I'm going to go nuts if I sit around here any longer," said the lion to himself, who was an emotional wreck, feeling guilty, angry, lonesome, homesick, and hungry. He never would have had to deal with any of this crap at the zoo. His hunger was beginning to worry him with increasing concern, as he hadn't eaten all day. Now, one day wasn't going to push him over the edge, or so he hoped at the very least, but how long could he go on fasting without once again turning into the… "No!" he said out loud. Alex blocked the thought from his mind and picked up his tail and started playing with it.

Another thought then came to him, one which he hadn't considered before. What if Marty was actually _not_ seriously injured, but rather was hamming it up to get all the attention, and get everyone on his side? Just the idea of this made him feel very resentful. But… on the other hand… what if Marty _was_ really hurt? The lion pondered this for a short time, going from one extreme to the other, nervously batting himself in the nose with his tail tip, then started daydreaming in an attempt to get his mind on something else.

_He imagined being back at the Central Park Zoo, standing up on his performing platform. Doing a combination of ferocious stances and sexy poses, he did his usual best to wow the crowd. He roared, but the attention of the crowd began to divert toward Marty's enclosure. He looked over there only to find the zebra lying unnaturally on his side, inactive. The zoo veterinarian and a technician with a medical kit hopped the fence and hurried to the fallen zebra. Completely ignoring the lion's performance, the crowd all focused on the zebra's pen. Out in the crowd, he saw two armed security officers talking with some onlookers. Three children pointed toward the zebra pen while talking with the officers, waving their hands about wildly. Then, they turned around and pointed at Alex. Other people around them nodded and also pointed at the lion. The officers nodded and began clearing people away from the lion's enclosure while the medics desperately worked on the zebra. Then they cautiously approached the lion from both sides, with rifles cocked. These were real, large caliber guns, not tranquilizers._

"_Uh, guys?" Alex said, "surely you don't think that I…uh, wait a minute here, I didn't have anything to do with… well, at least I think I didn't… I mean, yeah, I was jealous, but I…guys… guys?" The officers stopped and took aim. "No!!" Alex screamed, as the gunfire erupted._

"Outch!!" Alex yelled out loud, as the daydream gone bad turned into real pain. He had subconsciously stuck the tip of his tail into his left eye. "Dammit, that hurt," he said angrily, covering his tearing eye with his soft paw and rubbing it. "Son of a- " he muttered, stopping short of using the explicative. He held his eye for a minute and then blinked it in the darkness. "Geez," he said, "I can't even have a decent daydream anymore. Ruined that for me too, didn't ya, Marty?"

Alex wished he hadn't have said that. He certainly had been quick to let the words fly this past week, each time adding a dose of misery to the others' lives and further separating his from theirs. He sat there looking at his forepaws, extending and retracting his claws for entertainment. Alex thought about the spear-studded barricade he had made for himself a week or so earlier, to forcibly keep himself away from the others for their safety's sake. "Nope, not gonna do that again," he thought. "If I have to live alone, I'm gonna do it in style. Somehow. I'm the King of Central Park, for heaven's sake. I'm gonna go where I want, do whatever I want, sleep wherever and with whoever I want, and eat whenever I want. And, I've gotta get off of this piece of crap island, pronto!"

Alex's rebellious big talk didn't make him feel any better as he meditated on it. "Feed me now!" his empty tummy grumbled, and he remembered one of the last things Marty had said to him before the fight:

"_If you don't like it, why don't you leave and find something you do like?"_

"Yeah," said Alex to himself. "Yep, that's just what I'm gonna do. Sorry, Gloria, but I'm gonna go crazy if I wait here any longer. Seems you've stood me up, anyways." Feeling tingly and wild, he stood up on all fours and urinated all over the tree trunk, claiming it as his territory, then departed into the darkness. Navigating the night jungle was fairly easy with his feline night vision. "Alex hungry, Alex eat!" growled the lion out loud, stomping through the woods. "Geez, I sound like a freakin' Neanderthal when I say that. Oh well. Since I can't find the penguins, I'll just have to get my own food by myself."

* * *

Deep in the woods at midnight, the elite penguin unit was on night patrol. Private scanned the area back and forth with Skipper's night vision binoculars, trying to pinpoint the vicious growling they had heard, following the sound at a safe distance. Suddenly there was a scream with more of the growling, gripping the brave team with fear, and Private zeroed in on the source. "I've got something, Skippah," he said, "I've got-…"

"Private," said Skipper quietly, "What have you got? What do you see? Private!"

Private slowly dropped the binoculars away from his eyes, clearly in shock. All Private could mutter were the words _lemur_ and_ killed_. Skipper slapped the dazed penguin in an attempt to bring him out of his stupor, and took the binoculars to see for himself.

"Oh my God," said Skipper, viewing from behind a cover of weeds. "My theory was right. It's him. He's at it again." He passed the binoculars to Kowalski to confirm his grim findings. "Well, boys, I'm very sorry to say my hunch was right."

Kowalski observed the remains of a lemur, and also a fossa getting its neck broken, both being violently rent apart for a midnight snack. The night vision binoculars thankfully bathed the image in a green light, not showing the vivid red color of the bloody spray. He shakily handed the binoculars to Rico. "Good God, I honestly didn't think he'd-…" commented Kowalski, stopping mid-sentence. "Do we tell the others?"

"We have to," answered Skipper quietly. "It's our duty to warn the others. King Julien, and our monochromatic friend. Come on, we'd better get out of here before we're spotted and end up being dessert. Initiating operation exodus. Move out men, back to the base. Double time! Hup, hup, hup!"

The penguin team stowed their equipment and silently disappeared into the darkness, beginning their long trek through the jungle back to the beach.

* * *

Hours later, the lion came stumbling back into the lemurs' camp, soaking wet, and walking upright on his hind paws. His mood hadn't gotten any better, and was cursing and smacking at things on his way. As he approached, the glowing eyes of two hidden lemurs peeked out from inside a bush there in the darkness.

"Stupid island, stupid water, stupid wild!" he angrily exclaimed as he walked, dripping wet. "Geez- what I have to go through just to get something to eat!" The great lion shook his heavy mane, showering the bush with water. The lemurs fearfully clung to each other and remained quiet there inside the bush. "Gloria? Are you there? Crap! Where is everybody at??" he said, stepping on a thorn. "Owww!" he yelled. "Son of a- oh, my poor paw," he whined, holding it and hopping on one foot, until he stubbed the toes of his other foot on a rock, and fell over with a thud.

Alex lay there rolling in a fetal position for about a minute, grumbling and nursing his minor wounds. Then he got up, gave the rock a powerful toss, and furiously stomped over to the thorn tree. "You freakin' prick!" he yelled at the tree. "What is this, everybody-pick-on-the-lion-day? What did I ever do to you? Bastard. You'll never do that again!" Alex extended his claws and ran them a short length up and down a branch, stripping off some thorns. Then, grabbing the stripped area of the branch, he pulled and wrapped it back around the tree until it cracked, with the sharp remaining thorns cutting and piercing into the bark of the trunk, which was rather small. "How did that feel, huh?" Alex asked with an angry growl, then stripped a portion of the biggest vertical branch and pulled it all the way down until the main trunk of the tree broke with a loud crack. "There now, you won't do that again, will you?" Alex said out loud to the broken tree, shaking his fist, and feeling some satisfaction for avenging his poor thorn-pricked paw. "That's what happens when you screw with Alex the lion!!" With that he turned around and sprayed the disfigured tree to mark it, and continued on his way.

Alex looked around the area but could not find Gloria or any of the others, anywhere. He finally decided to call it a night down in the woods, finding a large log from an old fallen tree that was sticking up at about a 20 degree angle to the ground. Lions love to sleep up on thick tree branches, and this looked like an ideal bed to him, being elevated so he could drip dry. Alex crawled up the log and straddled it, plopping his wet belly down on the log with his dripping legs hanging over the edges.

"Marty, wherever you are, I do hope you're okay," he muttered out loud, tired and depressed, "cause I'm sure not. It's been one hell of a night." He gave the log a big hug to steady his body, took a deep breath, and settled down to sleep.

* * *

_Author's note__:_

_To my good, faithful readers: No, I did not forget about this story, I think about it every week; and, yes, it has been a long time since posting chapter 10. To let you know, I was not well the first few months of 2008, and for the latter half of 2007, for that matter. This has taken a toll on my writing, but I am doing well now (and will continue to, I hope). Expect to see chapter 12 posted in early July, if not before. Thanks for your patience and interest._


	12. Uncomfortably Numb

There in the woods, Alex slowly awoke from another 'steak' dream, his tummy rumbling and looking forward to breakfast. He immediately noticed a weird squeezing feeling all over his body, like something was on top of him... or all over him. He cracked open both eyelids; it was morning, and the forest area was fully lit with filtered sunlight. When he went to stretch, he found that he couldn't move; in fact, he had difficulty breathing in that he could only take short little breaths. "What the..?" Alex muttered through his teeth, as he couldn't open his mouth either or even move his head. Lying straddled on top of the log he had slept on, with all four legs wrapped around it, he discovered he was tightly bound to it with more ropes than he could count. Even his head was tied down to the log. It was like a scene right out of _Gulliver's Travels_. The only thing that wasn't tied was his tail, which started twitching freely in slight panic.

Dumbfounded for a few minutes, Alex then remembered the final words Marty had spoken to him the night before:

_"I said it before, I'll say it again, you're fit to be tied, man. You're fit to be tied!!"_

"Marty?" he called as loudly as he could, muffled through his teeth. "Marty, did you do this to me? Very funny!"

All was quiet except for the early morning forest sounds of chirping birds, etc. He shifted his eyes back and forth to look around, but the area, at least within the limited range of his vision, seemed deserted. He strained to free himself from the numerous ropes, but they held tight. He could hardly even squirm.

"Come on, Marty, enough's enough!" Alex called out again. "These ropes are messing up my mane... they hurt! I can hardly breathe! Come on, Marty, this isn't funny... I have to go to the bathroom!"

Still there was quiet, no signs of activity or response to his cries. Alex's tail began to thrash about angrily. "Marty! I hope you've all had your laugh... come here and help me outta this... now!!" Still there was no response. "Marty?? Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry! Marty!!" Another minute went by. Then another. Then an hour, going on two, of waiting there tied up and abandoned. At this point, Alex was beginning to freak out from claustrophobia. "Help!!" he cried out as loudly as he could through his teeth, almost to the point of tears. "Oooo, Marty, you are _so_ gonna get it! I know a black and white zebra who's gonna be black and blue... Marty!! I'm gonna-"

"You are gonna what?," said King Julien, suddenly appearing before him. "Haven't you done enough to Mr. Marty already? Such violent talk."

"Julien! Thank God," said Alex through his teeth, somewhat relieved to have gotten someone's attention. "Somebody tied me up last night. Can you pleeease help me outta this? This is so embarrassing." He noticed Maurice arrive also, standing next to Julien, this time holding a stick in addition to his usual cane. It was in fact the very same stick Gloria had intended to use as a paddle. Overnight, Maurice had commissioned one of the lemur craftsman to sharpen one end to be able to use it as a weapon.

"That's 'King Julien the XIII' to you!," Maurice said, holding the pointed stick to him. The thick stick was longer than he was, and although a bit too large for the aye-aye to handle well, he made an earnest effort.

"Careful with that thing," mumbled Alex through his teeth.

"Where were you last night?" demanded Maurice, poking the lion in the ribs with the sharpened stick.

"Ouch!" said Alex. "I told you to be careful with that thing! You're going to mar my beautiful coat!"

"Speaking of that," questioned Julien, "what about our beautiful coats, Mr. Alex? What about them? Do you enjoy tearing apart bodies? My advisor here believes that you do."

"What??" said Alex, lost and getting paranoid.

"Answer the question!" Maurice demanded, continuing the interrogation. "Where were you last night?"

"I was here at the party," answered Alex. "Obviously. Duh! Or I still wouldn't be here all tied up!!" His tail started thrashing again.

"See how angry he is, King Julien," observed Maurice. "Anger, a trait of the criminal type." He turned back to Alex with the pointy stick again. "We know you left the party late last night, informants have told us so. You were gone for some time. Where did you go, and what were you doing?" Maurice jabbed him again with the stick.

"Ouch!!" growled Alex, his tail audibly smacking against the log. His eyes were frowning with anger. "I was hungry," he finally said. "All you ever have at these parties is that crappy fruit. I'm a meat eater, I can't eat that crap! So I got hungry and left the party to go look for something to eat."

"A-ha!" exclaimed Maurice. "An honest answer! You see, he admits it!"

"I was looking for the penguins," continued Alex, "but I couldn't find them. They weren't at the party."

"What does that have to do with anything?" drilled Julien. "Did you want to eat them for dinner?"

"No!" said Alex, rolling his eyes. "The penguins get fish for me. I was hungry and I wanted some. I couldn't find them so I tried to fish myself. I failed and ended up falling into the stream. Then I came back to your dismal party all wet and crashed with an empty belly."

"A twist of the truth," Maurice said. "Yes, you were observed wet, that much is true. But fill in the gaps you left out!! You didn't go to sleep hungry, did you? And fishing? Ha! A likely story. The stream incident wasn't an accident, was it? Perhaps you had to bathe... to get all the blood off you!"

"All right, this has gone far enough!" growled Alex, struggling. "Get me outta this mess now! This is the meanest practical joke I've ever-"

"A joke, Mr. Alex? Is death a joke to you?" asked Julien. "Do you find it funny, like the fossae do?"

"What are you- awww, let me go, dammit! Let me go!!" Alex panicked and struggled violently, but the vine ropes held firmly. His tasseled tail thrashed about angrily.

"Definitely the criminal type," observed Maurice, pointing with his stick. "With a guilty conscience."

"I hope you're quite comfortable," the lemur king said to the lion, "because you're going to remain here for a long time. For now, at least, until we decide what to do with you."

"What do you mean, '_do with me_'," asked Alex fearfully, now very confused.

"You are now our prisoner, Mr. Alex. Your capture was quite a triumph, I must say; a fortunate stroke of luck on our part. What to do, what to do with you. You see, this is all new for us, as we've never had to consider, uh,... _executing_ anyone before. But the trial will decide that," King Julien said firmly.

"What trial?" asked Alex, starting to feel sick to his stomach. "Where are my friends? What have you done with them?"

"If you are referring to the others, as in Miss Gloria, and the tallest one- we haven't done anything with them," explained Julien. "They are free to come and go. Because they, unlike yourself, haven't done anything wrong. The trial is for you!!"

"Look," said Alex, "I know I was really rough with Marty last night, and I'm sorry about that, and I'm sorry I interrupted your party. But what Marty and I do with each other is nobody else's business, understand? We'll work it out, and I don't need some stupid trial of foreigners telling me what to do!"

"Ah, yes, poor Mr. Marty," commented Julien, with a voice of lament. "He was such a lifter of one's spirit, a true party animal."

"What do you mean _was_?" inquired Alex fearfully. "What have you done with him?"

"As I told you before," continued Julien, "we haven't done anything with the others. It is you who have done the dark deeds. You've tried to kill him twice now, last night being your second attempt- both times in front of everyone, I might add. Poor Mr. Marty, may God rest his soul."

"You mean he's... no! You're lying!" snapped Alex, refusing to believe it. "He can't be dead- no, it can't be!"

"Miss Gloria and the tallest one carried him out of here last night after he took a turn for the worst. I admit that his present condition is presumption on my part- I have not yet seen him today. As you can see, we have our own problems at the moment to deal with. But I would be summarily surprised if he lived through the night, after that thrashing you gave him. He was doing rather poorly when last we spoke."

Alex was speechless. He felt horrible, shocked at the news that his life-long best friend might be dead- and by his own paw.

"It is very sad," continued Julien, "but you are right, that is your business. What you aliens do amongst yourselves, savage or not, is indeed your own affair. The purpose of your trial is not for what you did to Mr. Marty, it is for the atrocities you have committed against us. And you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"W-what??" asked Alex, stammering. "What else have I supposedly done that's so terrible?"

"Murder one," explained Maurice, climbing up to the top of the log to look the lion directly in the face. "Or I should say, mass murder one. Sound familiar? Or perhaps you would care to hear it from the families of those you killed. Eleven lemurs in all, so far as we know. Are there any more we should know about? Wicked carnivore! Don't act so surprised, stupid."

"What??" replied Alex in spastic denial. "Julien, I swear to God, I didn't- I mean, I think- I was- oh God, I can't remember!" The lion had finally gotten himself into a heap of trouble that was way over his head.

"So, Mr. Alex," said Maurice angrily, brandishing his pointy stick and looking him in the eye. "You killed some of my friends. You even beat up on your own friends. And now, you ain't got no friends no more. But I... I never trusted you from the beginning."

A lump formed in the lion's throat. Frightened and realizing that he was running out of time, Alex tried one last desperate pathetic plea to somehow tip the balance of justice into his own favor, and formulate a very crude escape plan. If he could just get free, he could immediately take off into the jungle and get away, and then they'd never get him.

"Uh, Julien?," he asked nervously, as calmly as possible. "I have a special request, um, it's really kinda urgent. Can I uh, please be allowed to get up and go and use the bathroom? Just for a minute. I really gotta go. Pleeease?" Alex faked a smile and tried to put on his cutest, most adorable looking face with his big blue eyes to beg them, although the ropes around his head prevented him from utilizing the full effect.

Julien looked at him and considered his dire predicament. "Well, hmm, you are right, that is a problem. So, if we untie you, just for a minute, then you can... nope! No way! You are not going anywhere, Mr. Alex. Do you think me a complete fool?"

"Aww, c'mon Julien, please!" begged Alex. "I've had to pee for the last two hours. I'm gonna have an accident!"

"Then pee in your pants," responded Julien.

"Pants?" asked Alex, a bit confused.

"Figure of speech," said Julien.

"Come on Julien, have a heart!" demanded Alex. "This act against me is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention! And what happened to innocent before proven guilty??"

"We know nothing of this 'Geneva Convention' you speak of," replied Julien. "Regardless, it is too dangerous to continue to let you roam free around here, in the obvious case you are guilty, which evidence seems to overwhelmingly point to. Sorry, but you are no longer to be trusted. You will be sedated, and we will have to keep you tied up here until we have final conclusive evidence for the trial. Might be hours... might be days."

"No!" cried Alex through his teeth, struggling wildly. "No! I didn't do anything!! I didn't-"

"Silence!" commanded Maurice, whacking him on the head with the blunt end of his stick. "The prisoner will be silent!"

Poor Alex just couldn't take it anymore. He was a strong, tough creature, but wasn't used to such cruel treatment. The smack on the head didn't hurt all that bad, but combined with everything else, it pushed him over the edge. He lost his emotional containment and started to cry, sobbing through his teeth, tears flowing down his face and snorting out his nostrils.

The sad lion's wails of lament struck both of his interrogators off-guard with great sympathy; they were, after all, good kind animals themselves, and certainly didn't enjoy seeing him suffer. "Why, he's... crying," said Maurice, pitying him. "He's crying! That's not a sign of the cold-hearted criminal type."

Julien felt bad too, but was wary of being taken into a deception. "An act, maybe?" he suggested. "Was he not a showman, an actor, before he came here?"

Maurice agreed, but still felt terrible. It was Maurice who had recommended wary vigilance against the lion ever since they had met him, but now suddenly he felt very sorry for him.

"Or, perhaps he's crying because now he's finally been caught," added Julien.

The little lemur Mort showed up unexpectedly, sneaking in during the conversation. He stared up at the helpless tied-up lion with his wide eyes in shock, fear, and pity. "Awww, the poor sad giant," he said, pointing. "He cries, see he cries! Please let him go, he won't hurt us. He's our friend!"

"Mort, you shouldn't be here," lectured Maurice. "This is a restricted area. You must leave at once!"

"But he's-"

"Mort!" Julien interrupted. "This is the mean giant who scared you the first day we met them, remember? Yes, we thought him a friend. My great plan was flawed. I admit my error; Maurice was right all along. This giant freak is dangerous, do you not understand? He's a killer!" Julien turned to Maurice, lowering his voice. "He's _so_ annoying. See to it he leaves at once, and keep him away from the prisoner."

Maurice nodded, and escorted Mort away from the area. Julien carefully inserted a straw made of hollow bamboo into the sobbing lion's mouth.

"No one is more disappointed than myself, Mr. Alex... except perhaps, you yourself. I thought you to be our salvation from the ever continuing threat of the fossae. I believed in and trusted you as our protector, our friend... and I entrusted the safety of the colony to my errant belief. I even gave you my crown. What a fool I was; I should have known it was too good to be so. But now, I will try to make things right." Poor Alex just kept crying throughout Julien's speech, snorting tears out his nostrils. Now, more than ever before, he wished he was back at the zoo, safe and sound with all his friends, with Marty alive and well.

"We are sorry to have to resort to these drastic measures," explained Julien, "but it is survival of the fittest. Nighty night, Mr. Lion." Suddenly Alex's mouth was filled with an extremely bitter, volatile distillate liquid. He swallowed most of it to keep from choking, which burned his throat on the way down. Totally helpless to fight it, he panicked and cried harder, only to get another huge mouthful of the bitter, numbing liquid. Alex swallowed and sputtered, and Julien removed the straw from his mouth.

The crying subsided shortly after the mysterious harsh drink took effect. Alex became drunk and stopped struggling. He felt his legs, tail, and body going numb, and then, minutes later, the captive former king of Central Park went limp and passed out.


	13. Dazed and Confused

Alex groggily awoke from his seemingly dreamless sleep. As he fought to regain consciousness, he could vaguely hear muffled sounds in the background. He cracked open his eyelids just a slit, and the light was so bright it hurt his head to look at it. Squinting, he finally adjusted enough to the brightness that he could see a little. But man, did he have a headache. Momentarily forgetting his situation, he went to lift up his head; to his surprise, he was able to do it. But his head spun with dizziness, plus the headache, so he laid it back down. At least his head was now free. Then Alex thought he heard background sounds of the ocean waves pounding the surf, and some seabirds. "_Where am I?_" Alex silently asked himself, confused, as he faintly remembered last being in the forest.

Moving his head made him dizzy, so Alex rolled his eyes up to check his surroundings. Moving his eyes hurt too, aggravating his headache. But he saw a ceiling made of leaves, and on further inspection realized he must be in Marty's cabana. "_What?_" he thought. He lifted his head again, slowly, looking back to check the rest of his body- his fur was a ruffled mess, but he wasn't tied up at all. "_What is going on? What is wrong with me?_" he thought, then the world started spinning so bad it made him feel sick. He laid his head back down, but this time the spinning didn't stop. Feeling worse by the second, he instinctively called out for help from the one animal he trusted the most. "Marty!" he called tearfully, starting to panic. "Marty, I need you! Help!" But something sad inside told him that Marty wouldn't be coming this time. The lion closed his eyes and sniffled in his torment, desperately trying to remember what happened, what was real, and what was not.

There was a dull thud, like something heavy had dropped onto the sand nearby. Then, clumsy footsteps, more like vibrations than a distinct sound, caused by something slowly and haphazardly approaching him.

"Help!" the delirious lion called out again in a voice of panic with his eyes closed, sensing a presence standing before him.

"I'm here, Alex," a voice weakly said to him, lying down close by him and gently stroking his mane. "I'm right here, buddy."

"What?" questioned Alex, recognizing the voice, and very confused. "Marty? No, wait... but you're de- you're alive?"

"Last time I checked," said the zebra, in a tired voice. "Let's see here," he added, placing a hoof on his own neck to feel his pulse. "Yep, I'm still kickin'."

Marty, I think I'm going crazy," Alex said in a broken, frightened voice. "Please, can we go home to the zoo now?" he begged, starting to cry. "Please say that we're going home today!"

Marty held his friend and let him cry. "Aww, Alex, you've been crying so much lately... poor guy. It's all right, buddy. It's going to be okay," he assured the distraught lion.

"Marty, I've been spending so much time by myself these last few days," wailed Alex. "I'm sorry if I hurt you!"

"No, Alex no...", he replied gently. "It's okay."

"I don't want to be alone anymore," cried Alex. "I don't want to be alone!! Please stay with me... please don't leave!"

"I'm not going anywhere... I'm gonna be right beside you. You 'n me, okay?"

This somewhat consoled the sobbing lion, and the tears began to subside. The spinning sensation diminished slightly but didn't completely go away. Amid his suffering, Alex was so happy to see that Marty was alive. At least that is what he saw and thought. The zebra seemed to be real, but he still wasn't sure. Nothing was making sense. "Marty, I feel horrible... am I sick?"

"Yes, Alex, you are," the zebra honestly told him. "You're pretty sick, buddy. And I'm not feelin' too well myself."

"You're sick too?" Alex asked.

"Well, I guess you could say that," answered Marty. "Yeah, I'm sick too. Both of us were in intensive care this morning. Poor Melman was up all night and all morning, playing doctor. And Gloria was playing nurse. But you're gonna be okay, buddy."

"What's wrong with- oops... uh, Marty, I have to get up, please help me up."

"Alex, you really should stay lying there for a while."

"No, I have to get up... I'm gonna puke!"

"Oh, sorry, here let me help you," Marty said, slowly and stiffly lifting the lion to his shaky, uneasy feet. The zebra paused, then jolted with pain as he took the lion's weight upon his shoulders. Limping, Marty walked Alex out into the sand away from the hut, then looked away to give him some privacy. Alex dug a hole in the sand with his forepaws, then put his head down into the hole and retched. Marty felt bad for him.

"Not much came up," Alex said, covering the hole back up and feeling a little better for the moment. "Mostly dry heaves. Yuk! I hate this!"

Marty, clearly in pain, laboriously escorted his friend back to the hut and then both animals collapsed back down onto the bed of sand. Alex laid there and, despite the hot afternoon weather, began to shiver with the chills. Poor Alex felt so miserable. Marty moved up close against him to try to help.

"M-M-Marty, you're limping," Alex said.

"Yeah, I think maybe a stone got stuck in my hoof or something," Marty answered.

Alex shakily grabbed the zebra's weak leg and cleaned out his hoof with a claw. "Th-th-there you go, buddy. I d-didn't f-find any s-s-s-st-...stones, th-th-though," Alex chattered, slurring out the words.

"Well, what do ya know, it musta just dislodged a few steps ago or somethin'," lied the zebra. "Thank you, Alex. Now take it easy and rest. I'll stay with you."

"I f-fell in the st-st-stream last night," stated Alex with teeth chattering, "and I had to go to s-s-sleep soaking wet. M-m-maybe that's why I'm sick."

"No Alex, I have to tell you-"

"And uuugggh! I had the w-w-worst nightmare last night. T-t-terrible! It was s-so real. I d-don't even want to-"

"Alex," Marty firmly interrupted, "going to bed wet isn't what made you sick. Something bad happened to you last night. I know you've been terribly depressed this past week. Melman thinks... well, he thinks it may have been a suicide attempt."

"What?" replied Alex, still shaking. "It was? No, wait, I'm so confused. I was in the forest, but now I'm here?"

"I'll tell you what little I know. Somehow, you ingested a primitive sedative in the forest last night. At least that's what Skipper told me- not sure how he determined that."

Skipper? Alex wasn't sure what to make of Marty's information. He quietly laid there together with the zebra for a long time, thinking. Finally, he broke the silence once again with a question he was afraid to ask but had to know. "Marty?" he said, nervously. "I'm having trouble discerning what is real and what isn't. I, uh... I n-n-need to know something... did I beat you up last evening?"

There was a long pause, then the zebra responded. "Yeah, Alex... you did."

Alex's spirits, already quite low, dropped like a rock, and he grabbed his head with his paws and held it down against the sand. He was hoping it was all just a very bad dream, a delusion of his sickness, but this wasn't the case at all. Marty wasn't merely sick, he was injured from a severe beating. Although still in a fog, tears formed in the lions eyes as he began to face what he had done. "Oh, Marty," he sobbed, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry. I lov-... I loved you, I don't know how I could ever have done that. But it's too late now."

"Well you know what?" Marty answered, still weakly but sounding a bit chipper. "The special at Marty's has been extended an extra day. Just forget it."

"I understand," said Alex sadly. "I'm r-really glad you're still alive, I was told otherwise. If I recover from this stupor, I'll leave you alone and never bother you again. I deserve to be punished. I'm sorry. I know you'll never believe me, but I'm so sorry, Marty."

"Alex, you silly lion," Marty replied, "no, you don't understand. Yesterday I only asked for two or three little magic words, and here you've given me all five. For the special- remember? When I said 'forget it', I meant let's forget any of this ever happened and start over fresh."

"You mean, like forgiveness? You're forgiving me?"

"Yep, that's right. Now you got it right."

"What, for the beating? No Marty, that doesn't make any sense. I deserve to be punished. Tell you what, know those big chains up on the ship deck? Get them and chain me up, stretch me out on the sand, and-"

"Don't say it, Alex! Look, why won't you just accept my forgiveness?"

"Because it's crazy. It's a n-n-nice gesture, but I don't believe in forgiveness... not to this magnitude, anyway. Look, I've hurt you. Obviously bad. And I humiliated you in front of everyone. I beat you. I beat up my loyal, best friend in all the world."

"Yeah. Yeah, ya did, Al," the zebra agreed, then paused for a few moments. "Okay, so if you need to be punished, who here do you think is in the best position to decide and deliver that punishment, to the satisfaction of the victim?"

Alex paused, thinking for a moment. "You, Marty," he said. "You should be judge, jury, and executioner."

"I agree. Having suffered it myself, I'm the best person here to decide and deliver your fate. I am that person, and I'm telling you, forget it- you're forgiven."

"But how can you? How can you forgive me for _that_?" Alex said sniffling, paws over his head.

"Well," answered the zebra gently, "because you desperately need it. Because I love you. And, because I can be a real jackass myself at times."

"You're gonna get the short end of the stick here," Alex squeaked out, trying hard not to cry but losing the battle. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"No, Al, it doesn't. But forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts we can ever give or receive, and it works... mends broken hearts, gets friends back together again. It's the closest thing to magic I've ever seen. Just accept it and let's be friends again... please?"

Tears were streaming down Alex's face, wetting the sand where his chin rested. He couldn't speak from the lump in his throat, overcome with emotion, but he lifted his head a couple of inches and gave Marty a few solid nods of affirmation, and reached out and hugged him. The little hug made Marty's sore shoulder hurt, but he tried to hide his painful facial expression as he appreciated the gesture very much. It was a real get-well card for both of them. The two friends lay close together there in the sand, side by side, holding on to each other and crying. For Alex, part of a large weight on him had just been lifted, and for Marty as well.

* * *

Alex lay there quietly with Marty for what seemed like a long time. His sense of the passage of time was warped, but he could tell his head was gradually getting a little bit clearer. The zebra was still there, and alive. He was forgiven! And, with his increasing clarity it became more and more apparent to him that this wasn't a just a dream. The sun's angle had changed significantly, starting to shine on his face, which wasn't helping his fever any. He wished he could get rid of the nausea most of all, though- it just went on and on, seemingly forever. He wished he could just puke and get it over with. Then he heard muffled voices amid the background surf, familiar voices that were getting closer by the second. It was Melman and Gloria.

"Well, who was supposed to be watching him?" scolded Melman. "Just like earlier this morning!"

"That's not fair, Melman, we were both up all night," defended Gloria. "I fell asleep, I'm sorry, okay? Aww, man, now where did- oh, wait... here's Marty, Melman. He's lying here with Alex."

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Melman, hooves on his horns. "Thought he ran off again. All of this chaos is giving me a nervous breakdown!"

"Hey, Melman," said Marty, lifting his head and looking at him. "I'm here, I'm okay... calm down!"

"I'll be the judge of that," said Melman nervously. "You're not completely out of the woods yet, you know. You've got a possible concussion that we've gotta keep an eye on."

"Yeah," added Gloria, "especially after that crazy stunt you pulled this morning!"

"Now what did he do?" spoke Alex weakly, surprising Melman and Gloria.

"Alex!" exclaimed Gloria, smiling at him with her pretty, but tired eyes.

Melman immediately tended to the lion. "He's awake... he's awake! That's good. That's a very good sign," he said to Gloria and Marty, then turned to Alex. "Listen Alex, you take it easy for a while- you've still got that drug in your system. Never mind for now how it got there, just take it easy and rest. I think you're gonna be okay!"

"Sicko number two present and accounted for," stated Alex with a weak grin, waving a paw.

"I'm so sorry I left you alone last night," apologized Gloria to the lion. "I wanted to come back but I got very busy with Marty, and-"

"It's all right, Gloria, I understand," said Alex dryly. "So what is this stunt that Marty did?"

Melman brought a bowl of cool water over to Alex to drink. He asked for Gloria's help and they moved both Alex and Marty backwards some to get them out of the sun. Then Gloria began to answer Alex's question. "This morning, I went over to check on Marty, and his hammock was empty!"

"Somebody was supposed to be watching him, and that somebody fell asleep," chided Melman.

"Come on Melman, I was up all night with you, what did you expect?"

"Yeah, I know Gloria, I fell asleep too, but you were supposed to take the first shift while I napped," answered Melman. "Anyway, took us a while to get Marty stabilized last night. It was a miracle really, all I had was icy cold water from the stream and moral support to fight the swelling that was taking place. No pharmaceuticals or medications to work with. Not even a simple bottle of anti-inflammatory, like Ibuprofen. That would have been very helpful. I'm not really a doctor, you know, I'm just familiar with the horde of drugs I've been treated with by the zoo veterinarian-"

"You did great," interrupted Alex. "Doctor or not, you did a good job here, and I'm proud of you. You're the best." Gloria and Marty nodded in agreement. Alex held up a paw and slapped Melman a five, paw to hoof.

Melman didn't quite know what to say. He suddenly felt profoundly needed and useful. He decided to continue the story to divert the attention away from himself. "Yes, our Marty was critical for quite some time. But thank God, we finally did get him stabilized in the early morning. A couple hours after watching over him, I needed to get some sleep, so Gloria took over but fell asleep herself. Next thing I know, I am abruptly awakened by her freaking out, and Marty was nowhere to be seen."

"Let me guess," said Alex. "He ran off."

"We went looking for him in the woods," continued Gloria. "Then we find him in there walking back towards the beach with you, Alex, draped over his back. Melman was furious at Marty for attempting to carry you while in his battered condition, but then saw you were unconscious and ran to help. So we all brought you back to Marty's cabana. Marty's stunt was wandering off without permission, and attempting to carry you by himself in spite of his injuries. He should have asked us for help!"

"You were in bad shape, Alex," Melman told him. "Patient number one was barely taken care of and then suddenly we had patient number two. What really scared me was that your breathing had become very shallow, and although your heart seemed to keep going, for a while you stopped breathing entirely and we had to resuscitate you."

Alex's eyes widened. "Resuscitate? Uh, Melman, I appreciate your help and all, but... you didn't, uh, you didn't put your, um, lips-"

"If you mean mouth to mouth, no, I didn't do that," answered Melman.

"Whew," sighed Alex, "for a minute there I thought-"

"Marty did," continued Melman. Alex froze with a shocked look on his face and Marty shrank down in embarrassment. "It was definitely necessary," added the giraffe. "While I was contemplating how to do the act, Marty jumped right in there covering your mouth and repeatedly filled your lungs with the air you needed to survive. Somehow, that zebra learned CPR."

Alex was a bit embarrassed. "Oh well," he said hopefully, "so a few puffs did the trick then, huh?"

"No, you weren't breathing on your own for a long time," said Melman. "How long was it, Gloria? Like an hour? Yeah, something like that."

Alex and Marty would both have had red faces if the fur wasn't there to hide it. Alex was embarrassed at the thought of Marty mouthing him, virtually french kissing him, for over an hour, right in front of the others. It didn't seem to disgust anyone though, so he came to grips with it rather quickly. He still felt really sick, and didn't want to dwell too much on the subject.

"It was a group effort, Alex," added Melman. "Took all three of us- Gloria held you in the proper position and Marty gave you the air, so I was free to monitor your vital signs."

"Thanks, guys," Alex said, shrugging off his embarrassment and feeling grateful he was alive.

"Uh, Marty?" Alex asked his friend. "I've really got a craving for some grass."

"I'd get you some fish, Alex, but I don't have any at the moment," Melman added.

"Fish... ugggh!" replied Alex. "Don't even wanna think about it. Marty, I could really go for some grass right now. Got any?"

"Grass?" said Marty, surprised. "Now you're talkin'! I've got some grass salad handy, how about that?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," said Alex. "A nice big bowl would be great."

Marty's spirits sure perked up. "Hey Gloria, would you mind getting my best friend and me some grass salad? You'll find everything just behind the counter."

Gloria looked to Melman for approval. "Yes Gloria," he affirmed, "by all means, Marty needs to eat to heal and regain his strength. This is another good sign. Serve the salad."

A few minutes later, Marty and Alex were left alone with their salad bowls, eating enthusiastically. Marty loved grass, and was so glad to be able to provide, share, and enjoy it with his best friend. "This is great, Alex," he said. "Me and my best buddy eating grass together!"

"Marty?" spoke Alex with a wad of grass in his mouth. "I'm glad to see you so happy. I hate to disappoint you buddy, but all this is gonna come back up. I don't like grass, I'm eating it for its medicinal value... it's gonna help me puke and get rid of this nausea."

"Oh," said Marty, clearly disappointed but still enjoying his bowl of salad.

As the two animals ate together alone, Alex had more questions for Marty. "So you carried me out of the woods this morning, as Gloria said. Thank you, by the way. But I need to know more. Please tell me what happened, I gotta know."

"Not a whole lot to tell, Alex, seriously. About mid-morning I was lying in my hammock, half-dozing and feeling poorly. One of the penguins, Private, came to get me. Melman and Gloria were asleep, so I didn't want to disturb them. It sounded urgent so I got up and he led me into the forest. When I got there we found you passed out lying on top of a log, and the other penguins were having a heated discussion with Julien. I moved you onto my back and carried you here to our cabana on the beach. And I caught hell from Melman for doing that by myself."

"But wasn't I... didn't you have to... what about the ropes?"

"What ropes, buddy?" Marty asked. "What do you mean?"

"Never mind, I don't want to talk about it... not now anyway."

"I don't know what all went down yet myself," Marty said, "but don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of it. Apparently, the penguins know a lot more. They'll fill in the gaps tonight, if you're up for a meeting."

_"__Oh, no,"_ thought Alex, assuming what this meeting was most likely going to be about. Marty was obviously in the dark as to what was going on, but with his memory returning, Alex now had enough pieces of the puzzle to figure out the rest. He remembered being tied up for hours; the interrogation; and, why he was arrested. Skipper must have gotten word of the cruel treatment Julien was administering to the lion, and put an end to it. A penguin of honor, Skipper would never stand for cruel treatment of prisoners of war, especially one of his own. He must have worked out some kind of deal with Julien to keep Alex under house arrest here at Marty's hut until the trial, instead of keeping him tied up and drugged. It all seemed to make some sense now, but sadly so, because he had hoped it was all just a bad nightmare. And Marty didn't know. He didn't have the heart to tell Marty or the others what he had done and what was probably going to happen to him now as a result. Alex felt so sick, in more ways than one, and was definitely not looking forward to Skipper's meeting.

"Alex?" asked Marty, waving a hoof in front of his eyes. "Alex? Are you okay, buddy? You were staring into space. I was saying about Skipper's meeting tonight."

"Uuuuggh!" Alex replied, gagging on a stem of grass. "I don't want to do anything right now."

"No, not now," said Marty, "and we'll see how you're feeling later tonight. I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't feel up to, okay? Truth be told, I'm not feelin' too perky myself. It's an important meeting, but let's take things one hour at a time for now. We'll postpone it if we have to."

"Oh, uh, okay, okay, that sounds good," Alex said, still gagging. "Uh, listen Marty, I have to tell you one more thing, I, uh... no, never mind."

* * *

Some time later, the lion was lying there staring into space with a churning belly, waiting for the grass to run its course, when he heard some muffled voices in the background, followed by footsteps. He became nervous, but noticed that Marty was sleeping and didn't want to disturb him. The footsteps finally arrived, and he was relieved to see that it was Gloria.

"Hi Alex," she said kindly to him. "Feeling a little better? You have some visitors."

"Visitors?" Alex said very nervously.

"Yes, Julien and Maurice have come by to see how you're doing."

"No!" said Alex, suddenly very fearful. "No, not them... please! No visitors... I'm too sick!"

Alex's panicked response awoke Marty. He looked terrified. Gloria was surprised at the lion's reaction to his visitors, but respected his wishes not to see anyone. As she began walking away, frightened Alex called out to her, getting her attention. "What is it, hon?" she kindly asked him.

"Gloria, listen... I have to tell you... I know what you guys think, but I didn't try to kill myself last night. They did this to me. It was Julien!"

"What?" said Gloria, surprised again.

Alex became very upset and started shaking. "I swear, honest to God, Gloria, it was Julien and Maurice. They poisoned me... held me down and forced that stuff down my throat!"

"What? Seriously?" the zebra inquired in disbelief, knowing Alex felt too poorly to be kidding. "Why? I mean, he's-"

"Please don't ask me, Marty," replied Alex. "Please. I'm _so_ sick."

The shocked expression on Gloria's face turned to one of anger. She gently petted the lion's mane, then stood erect, hands on her hips. "Well, they won't be bothering you again," she assured, then stormed off.

Alex's heart was beating rapidly as he lay there worried about the lemurs' visit. Marty put a front leg over Alex's shoulder to give him some moral support. Then Alex heard Gloria's voice yelling out from somewhere in the distance.

"What the _hell_ did you do to him??" Gloria bellowed down at the lemur king, her voice resonating about the beach. "You could'a killed him!"

"Our stategy was flawed," answered Julien nervously, attempting to explain.

"Flawed, my ass!" Gloria yelled back, such that everyone in the vicinity could hear. "I'll say it was flawed. Now here's a better strategy for you- I suggest you both turn your tails around and beat it!"

Although it hurt to laugh, Alex chuckled as he laid there listening to Gloria emphatically rake them over the coals. She really didn't know what terror he had gone through, and would flip if she found out. So, he would have to keep the harsher details a secret. But he was mentally messed up from the experience, for now at least, and would have to talk to somebody about it if he was to completely recover from this. And that person would no doubt be Marty.

After a few minutes, Gloria came back to the hut. "I got rid of 'em, Alex," she said. "Try to calm down now and get some rest. We can discuss all this crap later. Love you, hon."

Alex was grateful his foes had been driven away… for the moment, anyway. The brief bout of laughter had shaken off the lion's jitters, but he was still worried and nauseated. He took a deep breath and lay there uncomfortably with his churning stomach, waiting for the inevitable purging of its contents.

On the positive, today Alex had experienced several miracles- Marty was not only alive, he had forgiven him as well. And the great lion himself was alive- his friends had saved his life. He now seemed to have full support of all three of his closest friends, which he thought had been hopelessly lost. But would it last? What would happen at Skipper's meeting, when all was revealed to them?


	14. The Last Perfect Night

It was now about 6:00 in the evening, and Alex was doing much better than earlier in the afternoon. While unconscious, the lion had accidentally turned the sandy floor of Marty's nice little cabana hut into a litter box, and now took it upon himself to do some cleanup. Using a large clam shell and some bark, Alex quietly scooped the damp, contaminated sand into a bucket until it was full, then carried it to the edge of the beach and dumped it into the ocean. Then he came back to repeat the process, and replaced it with fresh sand.

Marty was feeling about the same, still sore and maybe a little bit stiffer, resting in his hammock. All the scraping and scooping sounds aroused Marty's curiosity, and he turned his head around to see what the lion was up to.

"Alex, what are you doing? I said you didn't have to do that," the zebra spoke. "You should be taking it easy. I'll get around to it eventually, just take care of yourself right now."

"Please let me do this, Marty," replied Alex. "I need to feel useful. I've made such a mess out of everything, and now this too."

"Hey, listen, it's all right... really," said Marty. "It's just sand, you know, it's not like you ruined a mattress. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks Marty," said Alex, "but I'm almost done here anyway."

"That's great," said Marty, "the floor will be nice and clean then for our 7:00 meeting with Skipper. Thanks, Alex."

"Meeting?" asked Alex with a downcast look on his face. "Here, at Marty's?"

"Why sure," answered the zebra, "I'm hosting the meeting here, where else? This place will give it some class."

"Uugggh!" groaned Alex, with a paw on his stomach, gaggily sticking out his tongue. "Maybe you were right Marty, I've probably been pushing myself too hard. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather just blow off this meeting tonight. I still feel sick to my stomach."

"Aww, Alex, are ya sure? Skipper's not gonna be too happy about this. He wants everyone to be here, and that includes you, buddy- if you can't make it tonight, we'll have to cancel it."

Alex laid down in the sand with his paw still on his stomach. He definitely did not want this meeting to take place, and pretended to be sick. Honestly, he really didn't feel completely well yet, but acted like it was much worse to try and get out of the meeting. "Aww, Marty," he moaned, "you said I didn't have to go if I didn't feel up to it."

"You know what, Alex?" said Marty, climbing out of his hammock. "I don't feel that great myself, I really don't feel up to it either. I'm gonna go find Skipper and get this meeting postponed to another time."

_"Good,"_ muttered Alex. _"Postpone it until there's a cold day in hell."_

"Huh?" said the alert zebra, who wasn't supposed to hear that. "Didn't quite catch that, buddy."

"Oh, uh...," Alex said nervously. "Until there's a day I'm well," he lied.

Marty slowly headed out to look for Skipper and cancel the meeting. As soon as he was gone, Alex bounced up and began running loops around the hut, delighted they weren't going to have the meeting tonight. "Woohoo! Yes!" he exclaimed with a clenched fist. "No meeting!" A bit stir crazy, he sprinted out to the edge of the ocean water and back again, then felt faint and dropped to the ground. Although his stomach was completely empty, the thought of food still turned him off. After his light-headedness passed, Alex got up and finished cleaning Marty's floor. At least now he could enjoy this night all together with his friends, knowing that it might be his last happy one with them depending on how things went the next day. He wondered how long he could keep postponing this meeting, which surely was going to reveal all.

"Okay, Alex," said Marty from behind, taking the lion by surprise, "the meeting is off. Skipper wasn't too happy about it, but said we might as well get a good night's sleep. And, he gave me these," added Marty, holding out two fish to the lion.

Once again, Alex gaggily stuck out his tongue and pushed the fish away. Marty insisted he try some, and as the debate on eating began, Melman showed up and took sides with Marty.

"Eat, Alex," ordered the giraffe in a stern tone, "and drink lots of water. You need to rebuild your strength and get some exercise to work that drug completely out of your system. It's only two fish... eat them and then help Marty walk a few loops around the beach. He needs a little exercise as well."

The lion did as Melman said, and to his surprise, the fish were pretty appealing once he started eating. Before he knew it, they were gone. "Very good, Alex," said Melman. "Let's see how that settles in your belly before working you up to a full appetite."

Alex walked Marty around the beach several times and then both rested for a while. Later on, all four animal friends took a nice twilight walk along the shore line together, and Alex cherished every minute of his time with them. When they all got back, Alex gave them a group hug. "I love you guys," he told them from his heart. Running on extreme sleep deficit, both Melman and Gloria were ready to hit the sack right away. Since all of them were in need of rest, they went to bed in the cabana shortly after it got dark.

* * *

Hours later, in the middle of the night, the wind was blowing haphazardly. This night was particularly eerie, with no stars and a strange dimly lit grey overcast sky, possibly illuminated from the hidden moon. The huge, dead cargo ship beached down the shoreline appeared as an ominous black void, with the masts and rigging forming frightening pointy silhouettes against the dim grey sky. Eerie sounds whined from bursts of wind whipping through them, with the occasional clanking chain.

Gloria and Melman were sound asleep, distributed about the interior of the little hut. Marty was in his hammock and had been asleep, but was awakened by an uneasy feeling, peeking over at Alex with one eye. Alex sat there upright and awake, with his paws wrapped around his chest, having fits of visible shaking as a chilly ocean breeze rustled through his mane. He seemed to settle down as his tired eyes very slowly went closed, but then they suddenly shot open as he jolted awake and started shivering again.

"Alex?" called the sleepy zebra. "What's going on? Why aren't you asleep?"

"Um...," the lion nervously answered. "I h-h-have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh," said Marty, yawning and closing his eyes again. Several minutes later, the lion called out to his zebra friend, who was just about asleep. Marty jolted awake from the disturbance. "Hmm? What is it?" the tired zebra asked, a little perturbed this time.

"I have to go to the bathroom, Marty," said the lion again. Melman stirred briefly and then settled.

"Then go," Marty told him. "And be quiet, you're disturbing Melman."

Alex got up to leave but then suddenly sat back down, looking about into the night fearfully. "Um... do you need to go?" Alex asked his zebra friend, disturbing him again.

Marty sighed in a tone of disgust. "Alex, what I need right now is to sleep, and you keep waking me up. If you gotta go, then go take a potty break, you don't need my permission to do that!"

Alex got up again to leave, but as before, immediately sat back down, shivering. "Marty?" he asked once again. "Marty, could you please come with me?"

Marty knew the only way he was going to get any peace and quiet was to accompany Alex to the bathroom. "Well, I guess I could use a pit stop myself," he said, stiffly climbing out of his hammock.

Melman's head popped up. "What is it, Marty?" he asked. "Is anything wrong?"

"Potty emergency," replied the zebra.

"Oh, I know the feeling," said Melman, who immediately fell back to sleep.

Marty took Alex out to the bathroom spot by the woods. When they came back, he went over to the bar and got a drink of fresh water for himself, and offered some to Alex. The lion guzzled the cup and then started drinking deeply right out of the fresh water trough. "Whoa, take it easy, Alex. You're draining our water supply."

"Sorry Marty," said Alex, panting, "I'm so thirsty!"

"That drug dried your system out," explained Marty. "That's why."

They left the counter area and Alex laid down on his bed of sand. Marty stroked the big cat's mane gently to "tuck him in" for the night, then returned to his comfortable hammock. To his delight, a beautiful female zebra was waiting for him in his dreams.

The next thing Marty knew, he was sitting face to face with the female zebra, who had just done a slow 360 degree turnaround for him, pausing halfway so he could get a good look at her sexy striped butt. "Kiss me," she said inticingly, so close to him that he could feel her breath on his nose. As Marty began kissing her passionately, a familiar voice rang out, interrupting them. "Marty?" the lion's voice called.

"Who's that?" said the nameless female zebra.

"Nobody, it's nothing baby, don't mind it," said Marty, a bit nervously.

"Marty?" the voice called out again.

"Not now Alex," Marty snapped, "I'm... no, wait, please don't go!" The beautiful zebra vanished before Marty's eyes, and all the painful stiffness in his bruised body returned to him as he awoke from the wonderful dream cut short. "Awww," he moaned in disappointment. He was almost in tears over it.

"Marty?" called Alex again.

"Awww," the zebra moaned again, very disappointed and upset. "Alex! You just- aww, man, I told ya time and time again, when the zebra's in the zone, leave him alone!"

"Marty? I, um..."

"For the love of God, Alex, what do you want now? You just ruined a perfect dream... man, I didn't even get her name. Holy crap, it's the middle of the night! I can't believe you're not asleep after what you've been through today. Aren't you tired? I sure am. Look, I took you potty, got you a drink... what else do you need? A beddy-bye song?"

"Marty, I'm lonely... will you sleep with me?"

"Huh? Look, Alex... Gloria is right over there. Melman is right here, in between Gloria and I. You're less than 10 feet away from me. We _are_ sleeping together!"

"Yeah, but I meant... you know... _sleep_ with me."

There were a few moments of silence, then Marty sighed. "Oh, I don't know, Alex," he said, slowly. "I really need a good night's sleep, and I just got all settled in here-"

"Please?" Alex begged.

"Alex, I-"

"Please, Marty, I'm really scared!"

Marty looked over at his best friend, who was shaking and staring fearfully into the night. He was truly terrified. _"Oh my God, Alex, what happened to you in those woods?"_ he mumbled to himself.

"All right," the zebra said kindly. "Sure buddy, I'm coming." He regretfully climbed out of his comfy hammock, taking care not to bump Melman or make undue noise, and reluctantly approached the lion, who now had a guilty looking smile on his face.

Marty stiffly plopped down beside his friend, who immediately grabbed a hold of him with all four paws. Alex pulled the zebra's back into his soft, warm, furry belly, and wrapped his legs around him. Marty wondered if he would get any sleep at all, lying on his side up against Alex like this, but it did feel rather good on his sore back. As the lion held him, Marty could hear gallons of water sloshing around inside his friend's belly. _"Oh, brother,"_ he thought, rolling his eyes. "Alex?"

"Hmm?" grunted the lion.

"Alex, please don't wet the bed again tonight."

"Mmm-hmm," mumbled the sleepy lion, who was fading fast.

"I mean it, Alex," emphasized the captive zebra. "I don't wanna wake up in a water bed!"

"Yeah...," answered Alex with a little more effort. "Sure Marty, I'll try."

_"That didn't sound too confident,"_ thought Marty skeptically, also hoping the big cat didn't have another one of his 'steak dreams', or a 'lioness' dream. But sleeping with Alex was fun, for the lion coddled and squeezed him like a big stuffed toy. Now very content, Alex quickly drifted off to much needed deep sleep. To his own surprise, Marty was also asleep in no time, basking in the lion's furry warmth and relaxed breathing.

* * *

Very early in the morning, way before sunrise, Melman poked his head up, alarmed at seeing the empty hammock. A minute later he began nudging Gloria.

"10 more minutes," the sleepy hippo requested.

"No, Gloria, it's not time to get up yet, I just want you to see something. Check this out."

Gloria temporarily propped herself up and looked where Melman was pointing. There was Marty lying on the sand, fast asleep, being cuddled by Alex, who was sucking on his thumb.

"Awww," she exclaimed. "That's a Kodak moment for sure!"


	15. A Bomb in a Bull

At 10:30am the next morning, all four animals were having brunch together. Leaves, pineapple, grass, seaweed, and coconut milk were on the menu, and a special order plate of nine fish for Alex. This morning he was hungry, and sat on the sand couch with his friends in the shade of Marty's classy little shack, chomping down the fish.

"Feeling better, hon?" asked Gloria. Alex nodded, with his mouth full. "How about you, babycakes?" she asked Marty.

"Yeppers, had a great night's sleep, Glo," answered Marty in a perky voice. "Got me a heating blanket last night. I feel better, still a little stiff in some places, but I'm on the mend. Thanks for asking."

"Well, that's good news," she said. "And my complements to the chef."

"Hey, thanks," said Marty, "but you and Melman are the ones who gathered the fruit and leaves. Give yourselves some applause."

"Hey Marty," asked Alex happily, "where did you get all this fish? It's really good."

"Glad you're enjoying them," answered Marty. "Melman got them from Skipper this morning while we were sleeping in."

"Well, tell him thanks a bunch for me," said Alex, picking up the last piece of fish. "So fresh!"

"You can tell him yourself, Alex," said Marty. "At the meeting."

"Huh?" said Alex, taken by surprise, motionless, holding the fish against his tongue.

"About ten minutes, buddy," explained Marty. "The meeting's right here in about ten minutes."

"Awww," said Alex, in sudden disappointment and worry. Losing his appetite, he slowly took his last piece of fish off his tongue and put it back on his plate, which was sitting in his lap. Alex's eyes shifted back and forth nervously, and he put his right paw on his stomach and groaned. "Uuggh. Oh Marty," he whined, "I don't feel good. My tummy hurts."

"Well that's funny, Alex, 'cause you were fine just a minute ago," replied Marty, noting the sudden change in his friend's countenance. "No, you're not getting out of it this time. We're gonna have this meeting with Skipper- it's important!"

"Aww," whined Alex, paw still on his stomach, "I don't wanna go. I don't feel good. I ate too much fish!"

"I can see where this is going," said Melman, who decided to take a brief stroll away from the cabana. Gloria wasn't quite finished with brunch but decided to duck out for a while as well, to give them some privacy.

"Alex, you feel fine," said Marty sternly. "Now listen, we have to have this meeting, we put it off long enough." Alex sat there pouting with a very unhappy look on his face.

"What is the big deal with this?" asked Marty. "I can understand that yesterday you were too sick to attend, but you're doing well now and this is important. Skipper's gonna explain what happened, we all need to be there. Don't you wanna know what's going on?"

Alex emphatically shook his head "no", with his arms folded across his chest.

"Well, I certainly do," said Marty, at a loss to understand why the mighty lion was trying to avoid this meeting. Marty was reluctant to bring up the subject of Julien, but Alex's strange behavior was bringing up questions in the zebra's mind. "Did Skipper hurt you?" he finally asked. "Is he involved in this thing Julien did to you?"

Alex shook his head "no" again, then shrugged his shoulders. "Well that certainly tells me a lot," said Marty to himself in frustration. The zebra suddenly felt faint and had to sit down. He waved to Gloria to signal that it was okay for her and Melman to come back to the cabana.

Alex sat there staring into space with distant eyes. Well, the truth was bound to come out sooner or later anyway, though Alex would have preferred later if not never. Whatever Skipper was going to tell the others, it was going to happen in just a few minutes, then everyone would know. Alex didn't really like living a lie, but he loved his friends so much and wanted them to continue to love him too, and was afraid of what they would think of him after Skipper "spilled the beans". He would have to be strong... for himself. He would go along with this for now, out of respect for the penguins, but would not allow himself to be captured by the lemurs ever again nor accept any punishment they decided to dish out. It was survival of the fittest, and he was going to survive. Most likely, he would be sentenced to exile, but that was going to be very hard... Alex thrived on social interaction at the zoo, and now all he had were his friends, and if they went away... he hated to think about it. He had tried exile into the fossa territory once before, and it sucked. He figured if it came to that, he would just take off up to the mountaintop and live there, maybe constructing a shelter for himself from the ruins of his abandoned project. Maybe he could learn to fish. And maybe Marty could secretly come up and visit him there sometimes... if he still wanted to be around him.

The lion's sad face bothered Marty, so he asked Alex what was wrong. Alex started to answer, but then lost his nerve and said, "No, never mind, forget it- just forget it." Though surrounded by his friends, he felt very alone amid his nervous state. A song ran through the lion's mind that he had heard on a passing radio various times back at the zoo, a song which reflected very much how he felt right now:

_No one knows what it's like to be the bad man,_

_to be the sad man, behind blue eyes;_

_No one knows what it's like to be hated,_

_to be fated, to telling only lies._

_But my dreams, they aren't as empty,_

_as my conscience seems to be;_

_I have hours, only lonely,_

_My love is vengeance that's never free._

_No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings,_

_like I do, and I blame you;_

_No one bites back as hard on their anger,_

_none of my pain and woe can show through._

_But my dreams, they aren't as empty,_

_as my conscience seems to be;_

_I have hours, only lonely,_

_My love is vengeance that's never free._

* * *

The little group was ready and the four penguins arrived at the cabana right on schedule, at 11 hundred hours on the mark. Alex started shaking, and Marty sat next to him and held his paw. Gloria sat on Alex's other side, with Melman beside her. Rico, Private, and Kowalski sat in a row in front them. Skipper got up on the bar counter, using it as a speaking platform, and addressed the group.

"Let's skip the formalities," he began. "As at least three of you are probably not aware, there have been some serious things going down this past week in the lemurs' camp. Despite the illusion of a party atmosphere, it hasn't been all fun and games. I'll get right to the point- there have been a series of killings there. A number of lemurs have gone missing, and we took it upon ourselves to do some investigative work into the matter."

Melman and Gloria, as well as Marty, were all ears now, suspensefully anticipating the rest of Skipper's alarming report. Alex lost his composure and put his face into his paws, and silently began sobbing. Marty didn't know why he was getting so upset again, and supportively rubbed the lion's back with his hoof and gently patted him.

"Were the lemurs actually killed?" Marty asked. "Maybe they're lost."

"Oh, they were killed all right," answered Skipper. "I was a witness. We all were, in fact. We saw the grisly act. We saw the killer- all four of us."

"Why don't you just come out with it?" yelled Alex, bawling. "Just tell them and get it over with!"

"Get up here, you psychotic lion! Front and center!" snapped Skipper, a bit irritated by the interruption. Shaking, Alex shamefully approached Skipper with his head low and covering his eyes, tears running down his face, with faithful buddy Marty next to him. "Sit back down, Stripes," ordered the penguin leader. "I only asked the lion to come forward."

"I was just gonna-" began Marty, but Alex brushed him off and pushed him back down into his seat, then turned to face Skipper alone. Melman and Gloria's imaginations were running wild at this point. "All right," said Skipper, continuing in his coarse manner, "since you're so talkative, why don't you tell us what happened!"

Alex started crying hard. "I can't!" he blurted out, shaking his head. "I can't remember, I just can't remember! Go ahead and tell them, just get it over with."

"Your memory lapse is most inconvenient," stated Skipper inquisitively. "Do you know why you can't remember?"

The lion shook his head "no", unable to speak.

"It's because you weren't there," explained Skipper. "You didn't do it."

Alex stopped crying, surprised, not sure he heard the verdict correctly. "What?" he said in a weak, weepy voice. "What did you say?"

"I said, you don't remember killing those lemurs because you didn't do it. You may be psychotic, but you're too domesticated to be a cold-blooded mass killer like that."

"Then... I'm innocent?" Alex said, suddenly feeling light, like he was in a dream.

"Yes, you're innocent, you big crybaby!" stated Skipper.

"I'm innocent," Alex said to himself in a barely audible voice, basking in the proclamation. "That's right, that makes sense, now I remember... I _am_ innocent. That's what I told Julien, but he wouldn't believe me. Then I got confused."

The realization of the false guilt the lion had been carrying hit Marty, Melman, and Gloria like a ton of bricks. But Alex felt light as a feather. Marty got back up and reached out to give the lion a hug. Alex accepted and embraced the zebra, holding him tightly.

"All right, enough of this," Skipper said. "Yes, Alex is innocent. Julien jumped the gun before he had all the facts. That poor lion's been through hell. He was falsely accused, falsely imprisoned, interrogated with abuse, drugged, and brainwashed to believe he was the killer. And, as I understand, he almost died. I'll spare the details, but thankfully he's alive, due to quick action on everyone's part. Good work, all."

There were a few moments of silence as everyone's head was reeling from trying to process all the information Skipper had given them so far. Alex still couldn't believe it, and went back to his seat feeling elated and very relieved. It was the 2nd miracle he had experienced in less than 24 hours. Amazingly, everything was now back to the way it had been before this nightmare started... well, almost.

"Question," said Gloria, breaking the silence. "If you saw the killing, and Alex is innocent, then who is the killer?"

"Good question," answered Skipper, "one which we know the answer to. Yes, we saw him. The killer is none other than the Abominable Snow Monster."

Confused looks came from the non-penguin members of the group. "Who?" said Gloria. "Huh?" said Melman. "What did you say?"

"The Abominable Snow Monster," repeated Skipper. "You know, like from _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_."

Giddy from his great burden of guilt being lifted, Alex burst out in laughter. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!" he laughed, scoffing. "Right. Gimme a break!"

Skipper was not amused. "That's enough out of you, lion!" he said. "Is this the thanks I get for getting you out of hell?"

"Sorry, Skipper," said Alex, "but come on, The Abominable Snow Monster? And what does that have to do with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer anyway?"

"Haven't you seen the TV special at Christmastime?" Marty asked. "There was this vicious beast at the North Pole on that show. Remember, last Christmas, they were selling those Snow Monster replica dolls at the zoo souvenir shop. _'Memory Lane'_ brand, as I recall. They were copied directly from the Rudolph show."

"Oh yeah, I remember those," said Alex. "Right next to the Alex the Lion plushies. Imagine, someone choosing one of those instead of my wonderful likeness. Sure was glad when they were put away for the season. But I don't remember seeing a Snow Monster on Rudolph. Truth is, I've never really seen the show. I had an opportunity once, but I didn't pay attention."

"I've never seen it either," said Gloria, feeling quite lost in the discussion.

"Really, Alex?" asked Melman. "You've never seen it? It's a classic!"

"Well," replied Alex, "if there's not a lion in it, I don't bother much with it."

"There's a lion in it," said Melman.

"There is?" said Alex, surprised.

"Yeah," added Marty, "King Moonracer is his name. He rules an island, and can fly!"

"Really?" replied Alex. "He flies? No way! I'll hafta see this show sometime, then... that is, if we ever see a TV set again."

"Skipper, you're really serious about this, aren't you?" said Marty, wary of the far-fetched report. "I mean, come on, the Abominable Snow Monster from Rudolph? Really?"

"This isn't the one from Rudolph- that was a TV show made for entertainment. I only mentioned that to give you a point of reference. I assure you that such beasts exist in the polar regions, and are much more fearsome than the hollywood TV version."

"But we're on Madagascar," said Melman, "not the north pole... or the south pole, for that matter. Why would an arctic beast be here? Doesn't make sense to me at all."

"All right," replied Skipper, "I'll fill in the gaps for you... from A to Z. Still not sure how you four got off the boat, but when we took over control of the cargo ship, we headed south to Antarctica. It was our dream destination to freedom, but when we got there it wasn't that great. Blowing snow and cold, and seemingly nothing much to do. That in itself was reason to reconsider, but then far worse, during our exploration of the area, we encountered the Snow Beast. Much to our surprise and amazement, I might add. We managed to dodge the violent carnivore and make it back to the ship, where we immediately pulled anchor and aborted the mission. We reversed course and were lucky to beach the ship here on Madagascar, as it was out of fuel-"

"It would have been nice of you to tell us there was no fuel, before we got our hopes up!" spouted Alex.

"Quiet, you," commanded Skipper. "We thought we had found sanctuary here on this island paradise. When the lemur killings began, the patterns were frightfully characteristic to that of the Snow Beast. We hoped our theory was wrong. But then the other night, we saw one of the killings, and that confirmed our worst fears... he's here. The killer is, without a doubt, the Abominable Snow Monster. He must have followed us to the ship and somehow hitched a ride, because now he's loose on this island, prowling about for his next victim. We're all at risk."

"Oh, my God!" said Melman, who was very frightened by the news. "What are we gonna do? What can we do?"

"Get off the island... fast," stated Skipper grimly. "Or, stay and fight. Whatever we decide to do, it will have to be a group effort. Think about what you want to do, I want everyone's input. We'll reconvene here this evening at nineteen-hundered hours to discuss ideas to blow this joint. Oh, and another thing, we'll need to select a leader from among us to make decisions and oversee the operations. So think about who you want to nominate and then we'll vote on it tonight."

"You seem to be doing a fine job so far, Skipper," Marty complemented. "Is an election necessary?"

"We're all in this together," replied Skipper, "and it's only fair we have a leader who is elected from the group." There were a few moments of silence. "Any other questions?"

Everyone sat there quietly, stunned by the frightening revelation the penguins had given them.

"Very well then," said Skipper. "I thank you for your attention. Reconvene at nineteen hundred hours. Group dismiss!"

Alex went directly to Skipper after the meeting was adjourned for a few private words. "Hey Skipper," he asked, "just a couple of curiosities of what happened while I was unconscious. All throughout my interrogation I was tied to that log, yet apparently when Marty came to get me, he didn't see any ropes. What happened?"

"We came to tell Julien of the killer's true identity," explained Skipper. "When we discovered you had been taken prisoner and drugged, we demanded your immediate release. Kowalski cut the ropes with a small sword and disposed of them before your friend arrived, to save you further embarrassment. I didn't realize that 'Stripes' was feeling so poorly when I sent for him to come get you, otherwise I would have asked the others instead."

"That drug I was given... what was that stuff?"

"A primitive sedative made by the lemurs."

"Like a tranquilizer?"

"Yeah, but concocted from an alcohol derivative. Dangerous stuff, actually. Sort of like a bad batch of potent moonshine," explained Skipper. "You must have had one hell of a hangover."

"I did," said Alex. "Man, no wonder I felt so lousy. But I'm feeling better now."

"I'm sorry for what Julien did to you," said Skipper. "He did such without anyone's permission. Whatever you decide to do about it, that's your business, but remember too now we've got this other nightmare to deal with. I just hope that you're able to fully recover from your mental anguish."

"Thanks," said Alex to the penguin leader. "No, I mean it, really. Thanks for saving me and setting the record straight."

"You are welcome. All in a day's work," replied Skipper. "And don't forget- tonight at nineteen hundred hours - that's seven o'clock pm."

* * *

_Chapter 15 outside Credits / Acknowledgements:_

_ Song "Behind Blue Eyes" written by Pete Townshend, as performed by "The Who"._

_ "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" animated TV special produced by Rankin/Bass. No characters from this show are used in this story, The Tower Fortress, only referred to briefly._


	16. Psychotic Lion

Alex sat at the bar staring into space, with Marty behind the counter getting him a cup of fresh water. The penguins had left, and Gloria had taken Melman for a long walk around the beach to calm him down, leaving the lion and zebra alone together. Alex picked up the cup and drank the spring water Marty had served him.

"That was some meeting, huh buddy?" said Marty.

Alex came out of his daze and smiled. "Yeah," he answered. "Definitely. Marty, I went into that meeting feeling like a condemned criminal. That's why I was trying to get out of it. But it went in a totally different direction than I expected. I'm innocent... woohoo!"

"I had no idea any of this was going on," said Marty. "I wished you had shared your worries with me, Alex. I think I understand why you didn't, though." A few moments of silence passed, and Marty walked over and sat down on the sand couch. "So, Alex," he said, breaking the silence, "gonna go talk to Julien today?"

"Hell no," said Alex. "I'm gonna keep as much distance between myself and that jerkoff as possible."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," said Marty. "I'm concerned about how his mistreatment of you has affected your state of mind. You're hiding, Alex. You need to confront him about this, buddy."

"Naww... I'm feeling better, Marty. I think that drug is out of my system, or mostly out. Just thinking about him pisses me off something fierce. It's best I leave him alone, we're going to be leaving this place soon anyway."

"Yeah, that's true. I know we gotta leave," said Marty, sounding disappointed, "but you should still try to settle things before we go. You know, put him in his place."

"I'll put him in his place, all right... Marty, I better not get near that fuzz bucket. I might end up doing something you all might regret. Seriously. I'm doing the responsible thing by laying low. We'll soon put hundreds or thousands of miles between us and these mutant squirrel critters anyway, depending on whatever plan Skipper has in mind to get us out of here."

"I'm not sure Skipper has a plan yet. Hey Alex, we should suggest your tower project at the meeting tonight. I know you originally wanted it to be a surprise, but-"

"Huh? What tower? Oh, you mean my lighthouse... that hunk of junk. Lighthouse, Marty, not a tower. Oh well, it's just a pile of rubble now, anyway. Lady Liberty was a much better design."

"I agree," said Marty. "From what I saw, she was constructed with great stability, not to mention artistic craftsmanship. See Alex, don't cut yourself so short, buddy! Mister I-can't-build-anything-good! But for Lady Liberty, you had far better materials to work with. You had nice formed strips of wood, bamboo, and most especially, nails from the crates to hold it all together. That makes a big difference. What you did with the logs on the mountain was amazing, you just didn't have enough of them to stabilize the structure, and you had no nails, and if you had all of us helping instead of trying to do it all yourself-"

"Let's not rehash this, Marty. Please. Look, if it floats your boat, go ahead and suggest it tonight, I don't care. I'm banking on the fact that Skipper already has a plan to get us out of here."

"With this killer on the loose, Melman can't wait to get out of here," said Marty. "I didn't get Gloria's opinion yet, but I'll bet she's probably ready to leave, too."

"Yeah, we're gonna blow this joint!" said Alex out loud. "As Skipper puts it." He noticed Marty looked kind of sad. "What's wrong, buddy?"

Marty shrugged his shoulders and got up and walked over to his panel of levers, adjusting one of them with his hoof. The mechanical fan turned on and off as he moved the lever back and forth, with a sentimental gleam in his eye. "I'm gonna miss this place," he said sadly.

Alex looked at the slowly rotating fan, the hammock, the fire pit, the roof, and the bar, appreciating the elaborate construction of the cabana. It still impressed him. Alex thought that maybe he should swallow his pride and put Marty in charge of the lighthouse project as head engineer, if by the unlikely chance that project became active again. Maybe that would cheer him up. Alex felt sorry for Marty, and struggled for something supportive to say to him. "Hey, ya know, this place wasn't half bad after all," he finally said.

"It wasn't?" said Marty, surprised to hear him say that. "What was so great about it?"

"Well... for one, here we can run around naked all day," answered Alex, grasping at straws.

"Alex, we did that at the zoo all the time," refuted Marty. "Only clothes we've ever worn was our birthday fursuits. Except for the blankets I wore sometimes over the winter."

"Oh yeah," agreed Alex, feeling silly about what he said. "Hey, but here we can, uh... go to the bathroom anywhere and everywhere we want," he added.

"Alex, we did that at the zoo too," said Marty in a disgusted tone. "All the freaking time. Look, I know you're trying to make me feel better, but please... just stop."

Alex rubbed his face affectionately up against Marty's cheek, and put his huge paw around Marty's neck. He gave the zebra a gentle squeeze and kissed him on the top of his muzzle. "Marty, what do you want to do? Please be honest with me."

"Huh?" asked the zebra, lost. "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about this island, Marty. And I'd like an honest answer from you. Do you really want to leave?"

"Alex, we have to leave," said Marty. "You know that."

"Yeah, but I mean if we didn't have to," clarified Alex. "Forget the snow monster b.s. for now. If that wasn't a factor, would you still vote to leave? What would you do? What do you want, Marty? You're my best friend, and I'm listening this time. I really want to know."

Marty became rather nervous and a little emotional as he tried to speak his wishes. "You really wanna know?" he answered. "I'd... well, I'd want to stay here," he said with difficulty. "With you," he added, in a brief bout of boldness. Alex remained silent, so Marty broke the silence by saying, "But we can't. It doesn't matter anyway because we can't."

Well, he had said it, he had blurted out the truth. Marty felt very uncomfortable from what he had said and wished to change the subject. He looked away from Alex and marched over behind the bar and began rummaging through some things in the kitchen.

Alex hopped up on a bar stool and leaned back, propping up his legs on the countertop. He sat there thinking about what Marty had said, curiously watching the zebra rooting through their stashed supplies. "Whatcha doin', buddy?" he asked, stretching out.

"Feet off the countertop, please!" ordered Marty. "Melman would have a fit if he saw you doing that. He'd write me up for a health code viol-"

"Like that really matters," said Alex, spreading apart his paw pads and wiggling them, patting and rubbing them against the countertop. "And Melman's not here right now, anyway." Alex tensed the powerful thigh muscles in his hind legs, admiring them. "Man, my legs look great," he said. "Don'cha think? Ya know, I was-"

"Off the countertop I said!" ordered Marty again, brushing off Alex's hind paws with his hoof, almost knocking the lion off his bar stool. "Sorry Alex, I need the space for something." As Alex scrambled to reposition himself on the seat, the zebra plopped two medium-sized melons onto the counter and drew a goofy-looking face on each, then turned them around to face Alex. "Hey, look who's here!" said Marty, gesturing to the two faces. "They want to talk to you." Marty pulled out the crown that Julien had given to Alex and put it on one of the melons.

"Marty, what are you doing?" asked Alex, rolling his eyes. "You can't be serious!"

"Look, Alex, just pretend these melons are Julien and Maurice. Start up a conversation with them. Tell them how you feel."

A surge of anger shot through Alex as he looked at the melons and thought about the lemurs. "Marty, do you know what these bastards did to me? Do you?" Alex angrily swung his right paw and whacked the Maurice melon, sending it onto the floor. Then he punched the other one, sending it flying out from under the crown. "Dirtbags!" he yelled.

Marty retrieved both melons and set them back up on the countertop. The Julien one now had a split in it, with drips of leaking juice highlighting the crack. "Hey, Maurice," Marty said in a goofy faked Julien voice, "my crown, please. Now, let's get that stick out and have some more fun!"

"Wh- whoa," said Alex. "Marty, how did you know about the stick? I didn't tell anyone about that."

"You talk in your sleep, buddy," explained Marty, "Didn't understand much, but I did hear something about a stick. So what about it?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know, and I don't want to talk about it." Alex suddenly turned his head away, tears filling his eyes. Bartender Marty's psychoanalysis had hit a sensitive spot, and he had successfully upset his best friend. For the good or bad he wasn't yet sure, but something was definitely happening.

Melman and Gloria came back to find Alex sitting there at the bar, bawling his eyes out. Marty left him there as if everything was normal, and walked over to greet Melman and Gloria. "Hi guys," he said with a chipper voice and smile. "Feeling better?"

"Marty, what is wrong with Alex?" asked Gloria, full of concern.

"Oh, I don't know, we were just having a little talk," he answered.

"Little? Don't look like anything little to me," said Gloria, shaking her head, with her arms crossed. "You musta' done somethin' to upset him real bad like that."

"Look," said Marty, lowering his voice. "I'm trying to get him to confront his fears. Something bad happened to him out in those woods, and Julien was behind it according to Skipper. I've been trying to get him to go talk to Julien, but-"

"Are you outta your mind?" scolded Gloria.

"Marty, do you really think that's a good idea?" asked Melman. "Alex has really mellowed out the last day or so, it's been kinda nice... won't this just stir up a lot of trouble? Maybe we should just-"

"Which Alex would you rather have with us, Melman?" asked Marty. "The good old confident, hyper, self-centered showoff we've always known and loved, or sissy-boy pissy-pants over there?"

"He still wets the bed?" asked Melman, surprised.

"Oh yeah," Marty nodded. "Every freakin' time he falls into a deep sleep, day or night, he ends up soaking the bed. Believe me, I know."

"I saw him sucking his thumb back at the zoo," said Melman, "but I didn't know he had a bedwetting problem."

"I don't think he had it before," answered Marty. "I think it's a psychological after-effect from whatever happened to him in those woods. He wets the bed, he's afraid to sleep alone at night, and he's having nightmares, too... poor guy. I think if he confronts Julien and his fears, it all might go away."

"Hmm, you might just have something there, Marty," Melman concurred. "That is certainly possible..."

"Now listen guys, I need to ask a big favor here," said Marty. "Go with me on this. I'll be honest, I don't know what's gonna happen, but Alex needs our support and trust to build up his confidence again. Whatever he asks us to do, let's do it, okay?"

"I don't know, Marty," answered Melman. "This could have disastrous results."

"Well, I'm in," said Gloria. "If it's for Alex, or any of you guys, I'm in. But I sure as heck hope you know what you're doing!"

As Melman was trying to convince himself to give in to Marty's request, there was a sudden disturbance over at the bar as Alex abruptly stood up, knocking over his bar stool.

Whack! Splat! The Maurice melon took a hard hit of furious anger from the lion and splattered against the wall behind the counter. Alex was breathing heavily with growls, gritting his teeth, standing up now on his hind legs, with his fists clenched.

"They tied me up," announced Alex outloud, still in a sobby voice. "They told me my best friend was dead, and it was my fault. They told me everyone hated me, and I believed them. They humiliated me and they violated me, and then they poisoned me! And then, they left me for dead!" Alex stood there with his heart pounding, his body coursing with adrenalin, and he roared ferociously. "God-dammit, there's gonna be hell to pay for this!!" he yelled. "Nobody screws with Alex the lion!!"

Alex drew back his arm and forcefully punched the Julien melon, blasting it apart and sending the crown flying. Melman and Gloria cringed fearfully, as the last time they saw Alex this angry was the night he beat up Marty.

"Man, oh man, sounds like somebody's gonna get their butts kicked!" exclaimed Marty.

"Oh my God, Marty," chided Melman, "what have you done?? What have you started??"

* * *

_Author's note:_

_Well, I went to see Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa over the weekend, and I liked it a lot. I think DreamWorks did an excellent job in both the storyline as well as the animation._

_Writing this story of mine is somewhat awkward now that the "real" 2nd movie has been released, and I've debated throwing in the towel. Writing this is taking me a lot longer than I ever expected. But, I have decided to keep working on it as I like it and I want to finish it. Hopefully, my remaining readers will continue to enjoy it even though it is an alternate to the "real" 2 that is out now._


	17. Vendetta

Alex the lion was furious. He pulled out a pair of hard, straight sticks that had been lying in the cabana and clutched them in his paws like he was ready to clobber something. Then he went into a disciplined series of kata with the sticks, an impressive display of martial arts that resembled the Filipino art of double clubs.

Alex froze in his final stance like a rigid statue for several seconds, then stormed off toward the woods with a stick in each paw. Marty and the others ran after him to catch up. "I'm going to the lemur camp," he announced angrily, continuing his rapid pace. "I'm gonna show Julien who's boss. _My_ way. I'll be back, this won't take long."

"Alex, I-" Marty began, but was cut off.

"This is something I have to do, Marty," spouted Alex. "Don't try to stop me."

"I'm not gonna stop you," said Marty. "Fact is, you've got my full support. I wanna come with you."

"Huh?" said Alex through his anger, stopping to talk.

"We'll come along too, Alex," added Gloria nervously in blind ignorance, still not sure they should be doing this. "Let us know what we can do to help."

"Seriously?" asked Alex, surprised by all the support. "Wow, I didn't expect that. Okay, then come along, assault team!" Alex spun his Escrima sticks and offered them to Gloria. "Know how to use these?" he asked, holding them out.

"Um, not really," she answered, trying to politely refuse. "When it comes to swinging sticks, the game of golf is more my forte."

"Golf, huh? Close enough," said Alex, handing her the sticks. "Go for it. You can tee off some lemurs. I don't really need these anyway." Gloria reluctantly took the sticks, standing there dumbfounded.

The foursome marched into the woods on the warpath with Alex leading them by the 'law of the jungle'. The animal world operated much differently and much more simply when it came to the 'legal' aspect. If a situation arose, you'd either let it go, or directly take care of business, then get on with your life. And that was it. There was no lawsuit, no stupid suing, and no lawyer b.s. to deal with. The animals were above all that.

Stern and serious, the four large animals encroached on the lemurs' clearing like a posse from the wild west. Alex noticed Melman looked rather nervous. "Not gonna bail out on me now, are ya?" he asked the gentle giraffe.

"Uh... no," Melman nervously answered, wanting to support Alex but at the same time wishing he hadn't been drug into this. "It's just that I... I... um-"

"Melman, you don't have to hurt anyone," said Alex. "Leave that to me. Your height is very intimidating. Just stand there and make a show of force to keep them from escaping. I'll take care of the rest."

Melman nodded, still wishing he hadn't gotten into this. Then Alex gave one more verbal instruction as it came to mind. "Hey guys," he said, "one more thing. The little guy, you know who I mean, uh, what's his name... Mort? Yeah, Mort. He petitioned Julien to release me. His request was ignored, of course, but he still tried. Other than the penguins, he's the only one who believed in me and stood up for me while I was being put through all that hell. Let him live. As for all the others, they're fair game."

_"Holy crap!"_ thought Marty, as this rather alarming statement further defined Alex's intentions with Julien, just as Melman had warned him. Gloria and Melman glared at Marty, who just shrugged his shoulders and hoped for the best. That was Alex's last verbal command; from here on, he silently mouthed words and used gestures with his paws, like sign language. When they had gotten a little closer to the lemurs' clearing, Alex sent Melman and Gloria on ahead the long way around, to box them in from the back. After he had waited long enough for them to be in position, he sent Marty on straight ahead to enter the camp. When Marty turned around to look back, Alex was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Things were fairly normal in the lemur's clearing, when a rustling of leaves and branches caught some attention. Such a noise was of great concern, as until the previous week the fossae had invaded regularly to stalk the lemurs for dinner. A large dark form emerged from the disturbance, and they noticed that it was Gloria who had arrived.

"Ah, thank the gods, it is the great grey one," announced Julien to the concerned community. Gloria stood there silently with the sticks in her hands. She did not give a greeting, and had nothing good to say, so remained silent. There was another rustling of leaves and crackling of branches at another spot, and Melman emerged from the forest into the clearing. "Fear not," said Julien, "it is but the tall one, the fossae have not come back to attack us." Unhappy, Melman stood there towering above them, with a cold stern look on his face.

Then from the other side, Marty entered, also with a cold look on his face. Julien was glad to see him, though, unaware of the planned assault. "Ah, Mr. Marty," he said, greeting him. "Good to see you. And how is it going?"

Melman thought about what they had done to Alex. It was the only way he could stay focused on this mission, as he didn't want to be doing this at all. But as he thought about his years with the lion, and what a good friend he had always been, an anger began to rise within Melman against those that had tried to harm him. So it ended up that Melman was the first one to speak.

"There's a law against people that use drugs without a license," he began, "... who don't know what they're doing... and using dangerous drugs that aren't approved by the FDA..."

"You almost killed my friend, Julien," Marty chirped in angrily, "...my _best_ friend. What do you have to say about that?"

Suddenly a chilling roar erupted from the woods and the lion appeared, entering the clearing and blocking the fourth exit point. Now the lemurs were surrounded. "Relax, Marty, I'll take it from here," he said.

"Ah, Mr. Alex, yes, welcome!" began Julien nervously, ever being the politician. "We are so sorr-"

Alex held up his paw to command immediate silence, and it became very quiet. He began walking through the camp with an angry, serious frown on his face, looking down at everyone he passed with a condescending gaze. Several lemurs went to run in Gloria's direction, and she extended the sticks outward to block their escape. They looked up at Melman's towering form and backed away toward the center, where Alex wanted them.

"No one make any sudden movements," said Julien, who realized he was in a most desperate predicament. Alex once again held up his paw and glared angrily as if to say, _"I told you to shut up!"_

The lion circled the group until he approached Maurice, who was holding the dreaded stick. He stopped in front of him and stared down at him condescendingly. Maurice sadly gave up and surrendered the pointed stick as an offering. Alex took the stick from him and examined it, noting how straight and hard it was. Indeed, it was the stick he had been tormented with. He stared down at Maurice for a few more seconds, then began to walk back over to Julien, twirling the stick slowly through the fingers of his massive right paw. His claws were also now extended.

Alex approached Julien and reached out for his head. Julien closed his eyes, and the silly gecko on his crown leapt off and fled. He felt the crown leave his head as Alex snatched it away and plopped it on Marty's head. "There's your king!" yelled Alex to the group, pointing at Marty. "One far more fit to rule! So, what do you think of that, hmm? Fall down before him now and show your respect!" No one spoke a word; everyone was either speechless, or afraid to challenge Alex's command to be silent. All around, lemurs were falling to their knees before the zebra, praying for mercy.

Marty tried hard not to laugh. He knew this was dead serious, but it was also very funny to watch, and now he even had a crown on his head. Marty smirked a few times but fortunately was able to hold his composure. Alex began circling Julien with his eyes fixed on him, twirling the stick again, switching it back and forth between paws.

"Do you know what it's like," he began, "to be tied up so tight you can't move at all, with your enemies all around as you lie there suffering? Know what it's like to be so sick all you can do is throw up, with dry heaves to the point you can hardly breathe? Or do you know what it's like to be so damned depressed you want to die, then a little spark of life tells you to not give up, and so you go to sleep in the woods hoping for a better tomorrow, but wake up in hell instead? How would you like to wake up in hell? Wouldn't you like to find out?" Alex stopped twirling the stick.

"So, who's first to find out?" asked Alex impatiently. "Any volunteers?" The lemurs all remained deathly quiet, especially Julien, as he was closest to Alex. "No volunteers? Well, then, I guess I'll have to decide, won't I?"

"Gloria?" called Alex. "A melon, please!" Suppressing her own fears, the hippo retrieved a melon and then tossed it over in the lion's direction. Alex did not take his eyes off of Julien to see the melon heading directly for him. Suddenly, he twisted around and whacked the melon in mid-air with the stick, sending a spray of fruit debris all over Julien and other nearby onlookers.

"Nothing like a little preview, is there?" said Alex with a chuckle. "Now, who will be first?" Alex panned his eyes across the assembly of terrified lemurs, stopping to stare at Maurice. "Oh, yes, of course! The stick-man!"

Alex jumped into the air and did a handspring off his forepaws and a flip, landing on his hind legs before Maurice. The aye-aye looked fearfully up into the lion's crazy eyes. Alex glared down at him, beginning to spin the stick again. He stood there twirling the stick, skillfully passing it back and forth between paws, over his shoulders, and between his legs, with increasing speed. As the stick began spinning faster and faster in the lions paws, Maurice closed his eyes and stood there waiting for the death blow, hoping that it would be quick. After what seemed like a long time, the anticipation became too much to stand and he cracked open an eyelid, only to see the stick directly in front of him, motionless. Alex was extending the blunt end of the stick outwards to him.

"Your stick, sir," said Alex to Maurice. The aye-aye paused in shock, profoundly thankful to be alive, then gently took back his possession from the lion. "That's a nice weapon," said Alex with a quick grin, winking down at him. "Be careful with it."

The lion turned away and with a bounding leap did another handspring, landing near Julien, in his classic "coat of arms" stance, and roared. "I'm the crazy lion," he said to everyone, deliberately crossing his eyes and making a goofy face. "I've gotta be a little cuckoo in the head for what I'm about to do. Julien, you're gonna be the second one to get it. Maurice was the first!"

"The first?" Julien silently mouthed, confused, not really able to think clearly from the level of terror. He looked over at Maurice, who was very much alive. Apparently, Alex hadn't touched him... at least not yet. "The first to get what?" he thought. Maurice shrugged his shoulders, unable to give Julien a clue as to what was going on.

Alex approached Julien, who fell over and crawled backwards until he was up against a rock. Alex spoke loudly, addressing the crowd as well as Julien. "I didn't kill your friends, Julien," he said firmly. "I never killed anybody... not yet at least. And to prove it, I'm not gonna kill you now." Then he turned and walked away.

"What?" gasped Julien, after about a 30 second delay of reflecting on what the lion had just said.

Alex stopped and turned around. "You really treated me like crap, Julien," he said. "But lemurs were killed, and you are their leader. As much as you made me suffer, I understand why you did what you did. Doesn't make it right, but I understand that sometimes we make some really bad mistakes, and we can't fix them." Alex paused a few moments, looking over at Marty, then continued. "You know, someone very dear to me forgave me for something terrible I did to them just the other day, and it made everything new again. Doesn't make sense, but it works, and it promotes life, not death. So I am taking this opportunity to pass on this gift to you." Alex raised his paw and calmly said, "I forgive you." Then he turned and walked away.

Sighs of relief echoed throughout the camp. Julien hopped up with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, filled with gratitude. "Thank you, Mr. Alex," he said dryly, then repeated it more emphatically with a full voice. "Thank you Mr. Alex!" Julien stood tall, raising his hands in the air, and looking around proclaimed, "All hail the New York Giants!" As lemurs all around him raised their hands to cheer, suddenly he felt humility was in order, and fell to his knees and bowed low with the other lemurs following suit. "All hail King Marty!" he called out.

Marty was suddenly the center of attention, and noticed that Alex was rolling his eyes at the lemurs' actions. "It's okay, be cool, be cool," the zebra said. "Or rather, I meant to say, chill out everyone!"

Ex-king Julien bolted up with joy and gathered the lemurs' attention. "Listen, everyone, we are going to have a party tonight for Mr. Alex! VIP treatment for all the New York Giants, and especially for lion-hearted Mr. Alex and our new King Marty! The best food we can find, massages, manicures, dancers, wild music into the wee hours-"

"No, Julien!" said Alex abruptly, and everyone suddenly became silent again. "We have no time for parties. Listen, it's not that I don't appreciate your gesture of gratitude, but seriously, there's a killer out there and a party will be a blaring 'come and get it' advertisement for fresh lemur meat. Sorry to be so blunt about it. You've gotta, uh, do what Marty said... chill out, be cool!"

"You are wise, Mr. Alex," said Julien. "Yes, we will refrain from celebrating tonight. But we will not forget our indebtedness to you, we will celebrate at another time... take, how you say, a check of rain?" Maurice looked up at Alex as he walked past with a new-found respect for the magnificent lion he had once regarded as his worst enemy. Marty was very proud of Alex, with a renewed respect for his friend as well.

"The word is 'rain check'," said Marty. "Yeah, we'll take a rain check on your party... wouldn't wanna miss it!"

"Ah yes, you are also a wise one," said Julien to the zebra, bowing low to the ground in respect.

Alex stood there beside Marty, ready to leave, rolling his eyes again. "Hey Julien," he called. "We're having a meeting at 7:00 tonight to vote for a leader of our little community here. You're a part of this island. Why don't you come, too? It'll be at Marty's hut."

"Thank you, Mr. Alex," said Julien. "We are honored by your invitation, and we will come."

Melman and Gloria slowly crossed the lemurs' clearing to join the others. Alex and his friends started to walk away, but then he stopped and turned around once more. "Oh, one more thing," Alex chuckled. He took the crown off Marty's head and gently placed it back on Julien's head. "I recognize you as the lemur king," he said, giving Julien back his authority. "Understand this, though... you are the king of the lemurs... but I am king of the jungle!!" With that Alex let out a fierce roar to seal his statement, making everyone cringe in fear and respect. Then, the four large animals left the camp.

* * *

"Man, Alex," said a very relieved Marty to his friend on their way back to the beach, "you are one first-class act. You really had me goin'. For a while there I thought you were gonna whack 'em."

"It wasn't an act, Marty… I almost did," Alex answered. "That was the plan. But, I changed my mind. Something inside stopped me."

* * *

_Author's Note: Finally got chapter 17 published. Thought I'd get a lot of writing done over Christmas vacation, but ha! Ended up being so busy with the family, didn't get to work on it at all. Oh well, like a friend of mine once said, "The plans of mice and men." _


	18. Council of the Twelve

The four ex-zoo animals trudged their way through the woods back to the beach. The emotional stress of the day had taken its toll on tired Alex, who still had some residual effects from the drug, and he was feeling quite sick. Alex wanted to run back to the cabana so he could lie down, but had to wait for Marty, who was still recuperating from his own injuries and was moving rather slowly. Poor Alex didn't make it and ended up throwing up a little along the way.

Back at the cabana, Alex and Marty took a siesta, in their separate beds, from 3:00 in the afternoon until about 5:45. They felt so much better, that at 6:00, they were rolling around in the sand laughing about the whole incident with Julien. Melman, however, was not a happy camper. He was too worried to sleep and had not joined the siesta, resulting in a very grumpy giraffe. He chided Alex and Marty for their cackling laughter over what had transpired earlier with the lemurs.

"Oh, real funny guys, real funny. We nearly had a holocost with Julien's colony, and you guys think it's funny!"

"Aww, come on Melman," said Gloria. "Lighten up a bit. Look how happy Alex is... it's great to hear him laugh again."

Melman did not respond to her remark other than sitting there grumbling quietly. It was beginning to seem that, on the island, all four of them could not be happy at the same time, and now it was Melman's turn to be the grouch. But Gloria knew his current disposition was temporary, and would most certainly improve with good rest.

Alex had tears running down his face from the laughter, and the sand was sticking to it. After the two of them had settled down a bit, Alex got an idea and laid down on the sand belly up, with his legs sprawled out. "Come here, Marty," he said, "and get on top of me. I wanna try something."

"Uh, excuse me?" said the zebra, looking at him a little funny. "Alex," said Marty through his teeth, "you've got Melman and Gloria staring at us now. What are you-"

"I know," said Alex, "isn't it great? There's nothing like an audience to show off for. Okay, maybe I should've worded my request a bit more tactfully. I meant come here and stand over me. I'm gonna try to lift and balance ya!"

Alex explained that he was going to try to lift and suspend him as a feat of strength, and asked him to put his hooves on the lion's paw's. It became obvious that having all four hooves on the paws was not going to work, so Alex instructed him to sit his butt down on his back paws like a seat, with the front hooves on his front paws.

Marty put his front hooves carefully over Alex's forepaws, and felt the lion's back paw pads searching for his butt. "Umm... ouch!" said Marty. "Geez, man, watch where you're putting your feet!"

"Sorry about that, Marty," apologized Alex. "Alright, that feels right... now sit down on my feet."

"I don't think this is a good idea," said Melman. "Come on, knock it off both of you. I swear, if you guys hurt yourselves doing this dumb stunt-"

"Quiet, Melman!" said Gloria. "I wanna see this."

Marty sat down on Alex's raised hind paws, putting the weight of his back end on them. Then, he warily lifted his hind hooves, letting Alex hold him in that position. Alex flexed the pectoral muscles in his chest and pressed out his forelegs, shakily raising the zebra into the air as Gloria and Melman watched on. Alex released the pressure on his legs and lowered Marty until their furry bellies touched, then puffed as he suddenly and forcefully bench pressed the handsome zebra up into the air, flipping him over on his back.

"Woo hoo!" yelled Gloria, clapping. "Yeah, baby, go guys!" Melman shook his head and watched skeptically.

Lying there belly up on the lion's four paws, Marty relaxed a bit and stretched out, looking up at the puffy cumulus clouds drifting in the sky. "Nice job, Alex," he said. "Okay, you can let me down now."

Alex knew he looked great with his muscles tensed with the zebra's weight, and didn't want to end the stunt just yet. Always the showoff, Alex took his feat to the next level, and began slowly spinning the zebra with his paws. Marty became nervous as he watched the sky turn around and around, feeling the lion's paws dancing on his back. "Um, Alex, I think we're done here... c'mon man, I'm feelin' kinda funny... please don't make me puke!"

Alex turned Marty around three more times, then stopped, holding him there in the air. But he had waited too long to lower him with control, and his legs started shaking. "Whoa," said Marty nervously, who was beginning to sway about from side to side, losing his balance. "Alex!"

Melman looked down, putting his hooves over his eyes. "I can't look," he said.

The lion's hind legs gave out and all four of his legs twisted. Down went the zebra on top of the lion, and then rolled off of him. "Owww!" yelled Alex, and the two animals lay there moaning beside each other in the sand. No serious injuries except maybe their pride.

After a period of silence, Melman removed the hooves from his eyes, hoping it was safe to look. Alex and Marty were rolling around in the sand again, laughing about the stunt-gone-awry. "Idiots," Melman exclaimed, scowling, shaking his head again.

"Chill out, Melman," ordered Gloria. "Ya gotta admit that was pretty cool."

Alex sat up excitedly. "Hey, we could make this part of my act... the twirling zebra bench press! Needs some practice and all, but I think it would be a cool addition to my five star routine! Whaddaya think, guys? Huh?"

"Sure, why not," said Gloria. "I certainly don't have a problem watching two really hot guys showing off." Grumpy Melman wouldn't give an opinion, who was also getting a bit jealous of Gloria's attention over the other two.

Marty got a sarcastic look on his face. "A zebra in the lion's enclosure during visiting hours? Right. What are ya gonna do Alex, walk right into the zoo manager's office and negotiate the act?"

"Yeah," said Alex, "that's not such a bad idea. Yep, that's the first thing I'm gonna do after I get back to the Central Park Zoo... well, maybe the second thing, I'll wanna grab me a steak first. No, make it the third thing, I also wanna get a massage, some TLC grooming, and a blow job."

Gloria cackled with laughter at Alex's last comment, irritating Melman all the more.

"Gloria!" said Alex emphatically. "C'mon guys, you're deliberately taking what I say the wrong way. Bunch of deviants! I meant blow dry, alright? You know, my mane, all the groomers with the hair dryers?" Alex giggled to himself after thinking about what he had said.

"Mmm hmm, sure Alex," said Gloria. "We know what you meant."

"So guys," asked Alex excitedly, "what's the first thing you're gonna do after we get back to the zoo?"

"I am gonna go for a marathon swim, and bask in the underwater wetness for 24 hours straight," replied Gloria. "Yeah, babycakes!"

"Melman, how about you?" asked Alex.

"Me? I'm gonna make an appointment with the zoo animal psychiatrist to help me cope with all the mental anguish you guys are putting me through!"

Alex rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "How about it, Marty? What's the first thing you're gonna do when we get back?"

Any trace of a smile disappeared from Marty's face, and he got up, turned and walked away from the question with his head hanging low. "Marty?" inquired Alex, sensing the zebra's radical mood change. "Marty, what's wrong? Did I say-"

"It's a quarter past 6," mumbled Marty discontentedly, walking towards the bar. "We've got a dinner meeting here at 7. Tonight. Gettin' late, gotta start gettin' supper ready. 'xcuse me."

* * *

It was almost 7:00pm. A breeze rustled through Alex's mane as he stood outside the cabana looking out on the ocean. The scent of fresh fish caught his nostrils, and he turned to see the penguins setting a bucket of fish on the bar countertop. Alex nervously watched Marty from a distance, as the zebra slammed bowls and plates around with a glum expression on his face. Alex stared at him until he made eye contact, then smiled at him hopefully. Marty smiled back, setting the lion at ease. "Whew," he said to himself, "I hope that's resolved, whatever it was. Geez, I'm starting to worry like Melman." Alex thought about that, sort of identifying with the giraffe's wary approach to life.

Skipper stood there beside Alex as the dinner preparations were in their final stages. Then Julien showed up, making his usual dramatic entrance. He was seated in a chair being carried by two beautiful female lemurs. The procession of four stopped, and Maurice gave the familiar royal introduction of the king's arrival. "Presenting the illustrious King Julien the 13th, self-proclaimed king of the lemurs, etcetera, etcetera."

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," commented Skipper. "What on earth do they want?"

"You're right, Skipper, the cat did bring them," said Alex. "I went over and had a talk with them this afternoon, and settled things between us. I invited them to our meeting tonight, I hope you don't mind."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Nice tactical operation you led there. From what I was told, you took them by surprise and had them at your mercy. Nice! Wished I could have seen that. Well, anyway, you've won the hearts and minds of the natives. You should be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize!"

Julien and Maurice and the two pretty female lemurs came to the table with their offering of fine fruit for the dinner, which looked good to Marty, Melman, and Gloria. As for Alex, and for his fellow carnivores the penguins, only meat would suffice, and it was there in all its glory in the form of fresh fish. The lemurs took their place at one end of the table so Julien would not feel surrounded by eavesdropping ears. The brief dinner began rather informally, and they all sat down to enjoy some feasting and fellowship before the main agenda.

"Now Maurice," said Julien quietly to his chief advisor while eating his fruit, "you know the plan. When the elections begin, you will nominate me."

"I don't know, Julien," said Maurice uneasily. "We were invited here as guests. I don't think it's a good idea to push-"

"What foolishness is this?" shot back Julien. "Who is the king of the lemurs?"

Maurice hesitated, then half-heartedly replied, "You are, King Julien."

"Indeed. And what is there not to know? The Freaking New York Giant Aliens are seeking a leader to guide them here on the island. And, one with experience is most preferable, no? Well, I am already a king! Now listen: I found out there will be a maximum of three candidates, and you will nominate me as one of them. As for the election itself, our two ballots plus those cast by our two very sexy lady friends here will give a guaranteed minimum count of four votes for me. Do the math, Maurice! That's a guaranteed third of the twelve member council, minimum! And then, if I get just another two or three random votes, my position will be secured, and I will be able to assume total power as king of the island!"

As Julien laughed in silly excitement, Maurice stared at him cynically.

"Oh, uh, yes," added Julien, "to help guide the New York Giants to protect us, with my great leadership skills, of course."

"Of course," said Maurice sarcastically.

"Now Maurice, do not forget the plan!" barked Julien, in a subdued voice. "And ladies, cast your vote only for me, and I will make it worth your while."

"Yes, Julien," Maurice answered in a bored tone. The two female lemurs giggled and nodded affirmatively.

* * *

By 7:30pm, the feasting was winding down and the meeting came to order, still somewhat informally, being run in the interim by Skipper. "Good evening all," he said, getting everyone's attention. "Let's get straight to the business at hand. As you are aware, tonight is our election to determine who will be leader. Guys, this isn't rocket science, but for everyone's benefit, here's a brief review of how this is going to work: There will be a maximum of three candidates nominated for the position of leader, out of a maximum 12 member council. We have some unexpected additions to make to the council, I'll confirm the total number with a recount shortly. Anyway, here on the countertop are three hollowed out coconut containers. You will each be given three small light-colored stones. One of your stones will have a dark spot on it- put that one into the container that represents your candidate of choice, and put the blank stones into the other two. Then, I will openly tally up the votes before you all. Any questions?"

"So," said Melman,"when everyone's done voting, each coconut will have 12 stones in it?"

"That is correct," answered Skipper, "they will all have the same number of stones in them. The ones with black spots are the votes, which is what will be counted. Anyone else? Okay, good. Now, as you can see, some representatives from the lemur colony have joined us." Skipper counted everyone just to confirm his numbers. "Let's see, there's Kowalski, Rico, Private, myself, Marty, Alex, Melman, ... and yes, Gloria makes eight. That's right. Alright, Julien, we have four open spots left on the council. Whom do you wish to-"

"Myself, of course," Julien enthusiastically interrupted, "and my fine advisor here, Maurice. Lovely Tamila over there, isn't she beautiful? And lov-"

"Me, me!" an excited high-pitched voice rang out from under the table. A small lemur emerged and ran up the table cloth, excitedly jumping up and down on top of the table while shouting, "Me, me, me! Pick me!" It was Mort, who had come hidden aboard Julien's royal transport chair.

Julien was offended and embarrassed by the unexpected outburst. "Get out of here!" Julien shouted, swinging his arms at the fleeing mouse lemur. "You were not invited, so scram!" Mort moved to a different spot on the tabletop, just out of their reach. "He's so annoying," Julien said to Maurice angrily.

Alex got up from his place at the table during the commotion and walked over, standing behind the table where Mort was. The evening shadow from Alex's intimidating height fell upon Julien, making him rather nervous.

"So sorry for the disruption of your meeting, Mr. Alex," apologized Julien. "We will get..."

Completely ignoring Julien, Alex greeted Mort instead. "Hey, little guy," the lion said in his friendliest voice. "How's it going?"

"Maybe he wants a spot on the voting council," commented Gloria.

"Oh, no, no, no, that is not possible!" cried out Julien. "Mort, this is a restricted area, you must leave at once! Go home and play out in the street!"

"Why not?" said Alex. "Why can't he be on the council?"

"Well," answered Julien nervously, "he is just a silly kook, he can't make good, rational judgments. Besides, there is not room for another, we already have four representatives from our colony."

"Four?" asked Alex, looking around. "So where is your chosen fourth, then, huh?"

"Myself and Maurice," said Julien, tallying on his fingers, "beautiful Tamila over there, and... oh, uh... where is Amelia? She was here just a minute ago!!"

"So, we'll just have two silly kooks on the council then," taunted Alex, speaking of Julien. "Well, I think Mort makes good sound judgments... he certainly did the other day, didn't ya, little buddy?"

"Enough of this crap!" barked Skipper. "You're wasting valuable time. Julien, you're nine; Maurice, ten; Tamila, eleven; and Mort... do you want to be on the council?"

"Yes, yes! Yay!" replied Mort, jumping up and down. Julien put his hands on his head in frustration, looking frantically for Amelia.

"Alright, Mort makes twelve, and that's final." said Skipper. "The council is complete. Now for the nominations. I open it up to the floor."

"I nominate Marty," said Alex shyly, smiling and winking at his striped buddy.

"Aww, thanks man," said Marty, "but seriously, we can't pick candidates just 'cause they're our best friends. We need to look for experience and ability, like, say... Skipper here. Yeah. I nominate Skipper for head leader."

"Thank you for the complement, Stripes, but I respectfully decline the nomination," said Skipper.

"What?" said Alex.

"But you're so qualified!" said Marty. Everyone was surprised at Skipper's refusal as a nominee.

"Thank you, but no," Skipper replied. "Look, I run a tight outfit- Rico, Kowalski, Private, and myself- no more, no less. It took a long time to refine this little team, whose tactical ability has exceeded my original expectations. This little military unit must remain as it is, but will be ready as a unit to assist, advise, and carry out operations deemed necessary by the elected leader. In the present crisis, for me to suddenly assume complete command of everyone will scramble our operative efficiency, and time is of the essence. So, I respectfully decline."

"Oh. Um, okay... I guess," said Marty. Everyone was speechless for the moment.

"Plus," added Skipper, "I am running this election in the interim. It's not really fair for me to be a candidate."

"I suppose," said Melman, "but I think I speak for everyone in that we'd gladly make an exception to the policy."

"Now, my monochromatic friend," said Skipper, getting Marty's attention. "How do you say?"

"Huh?" answered the bewildered zebra.

"Someone nominated you as a candidate. Do you accept that nomination?"

"Oh, right... I uh, well, yeah. Yeah, I accept."

"All in favor say I... all opposed, nay," Skipper said, waiting for the replies. "Okay then, Stripes is the first candidate. Mark the first coconut with some black stripes, it'll be his."

Julien jumped in, clearing his throat. "Distinguished fellow members of the council," he began, "I wish to nominate Miss Gloria!" Julien had been quite impressed with Gloria's handling of the fight the other day, and had gained a new respect for women in general. That was part of the reason he invited the two female lemurs to accompany him to the meeting. Of course, his own agenda was still at the forefront.

Gloria was staring into space at first, it didn't hit her right away. Then, she got a very surprised look on her face as she played back in her mind what was just said. "Me?" the hippo asked with a wide-eyed gasp.

"Oh yes," said Julien. "You would make a fine leader."

Gloria was taken aback, feeling the weight of the potential responsibility for the group as leader. But as she looked around and saw many of the others nodding in agreement, she got a boost of confidence and accepted, becoming the second candidate.

Julien glared at Maurice impatiently, kicking him from under the table to get his attention.

"Anyone else?" asked Skipper. "We have two candidates for leader. Is there to be a third?"

"I have one," Maurice said hesitantly, getting everyone's attention. "You know," he slowly began, "Mr. Marty had a good point when he said the candidates should have experience for a leadership position. Being a king gives one such needed experience. Therefore, I think..."

Maurice stopped speaking for a moment to put his thoughts together. Julien smiled with his nose proudly in the air, basking in the glow from Maurice's well-worded introduction, hoping to sway the multitudes. Becoming anxious by the silence, he said, "Yes? Well, continue, Maurice! Out with it!"

"I think," he continued, "that... Mr. Alex would make a good leader. He is a king that has demonstrated mercy upon his enemies. I nominate him."

Julien's jaw dropped in shock. Alex was also very surprised, especially because it came from Maurice. The lion shook his head "no" and turned his face shyly away, feeling unworthy and for the first time a little embarrassed to be the center of attention, which normally he craved. But Mort leapt up and down cheering, "Yay! Yay!" as many others gave affirmative mumblings, speaking well of Alex. Melman was happy and relieved that he himself had not been chosen. Julien just sat there with his head in his hands, in disbelief at another plan gone wrong.

Not wanting to waste Skipper's time, Alex meekly accepted the nomination. He knew that the other two were good choices that had not acted like spoiled brats on the island, as he had. He hoped that Marty would win, not just because of their close friendship, but also because he believed the zebra had some real potential with his cleverness, to the point it had even made him jealous.

"All in favor, say I," said Skipper, "...all opposed, nay." Julien's gasping 'nay' was almost inaudible. "All right" announced Skipper, "the 'I's have it. Stick a handful of dried grass in the third coconut to represent Alex, and let's move on to the voting."

Gloria and Mort distributed the voting stones to all the members of the council, and after Skipper was satisfied that everyone had their three stones, the voting began. Very soon, everyone had submitted their ballots, and the coconuts were ready to be tallied. The stones were emptied and placed in front of their respective containers, and the ones with the black spots were counted. Marty got two votes, and Gloria got two votes, but Alex got eight, winning the election by a landslide.

"Well, you psychotic lion," said Skipper to Alex, "looks like we have a leader! It's unanimous. You'll do a good job." Alex just stood there in amazement, that everyone still liked and respected him enough for him to gain their confidence.

The missing female lemur came waltzing back into the meeting and quietly took her seat. "I didn't miss anything, did I?" she asked.

"Where have you been?" demanded the frustrated Julien. "You missed everything, including getting a place on the council!" Julien looked over at Maurice with a facial expression of disapproval, then put his head back in his hands.

"Well, if you must know," replied Amelia, "I hadta go to the little girls' room. Got a problem with that?"

"That wasn't a wise move, doll," said Skipper, breaking into the conversation. "Please, for your own safety, do not sneak off like that alone. That goes for everyone. We've got a predatory killer running about. Take some others with you from now on... travel in groups, like the buddy system."

Amelia nodded, a little embarrassed by all the attention. "Yay, yay, the buddy system!" cried out Mort, who then laughed because everyone was looking at him.

Maurice got up and addressed the group. "I regret that King Julien is not feeling well at the moment, so if our meeting is finished, we are going to leave and retire for the evening. Mr. Alex, congratulations, you'll make a fine leader!"

Julien sat in his portable throne, head in his hands, mumbling, "What kind of a people would elect an actor to be their leader?" Tamila picked up the front poles of the king's chair, Amelia carried the back, and the little procession headed out. Mort waved goodbye to eveyone, hitching a ride on the king's chair once again. Alex pointed at him and winked. "Later, little buddy," he said.

Two minutes later it was the original group of eight once again.

"Well, that was convenient," said Alex.

"I thought they'd never leave," Skipper said. "Good. Well Alex, you're in charge now. I presume you've all talked it over. What is your decision on our course of action?"

"New York," replied the lion emphatically, as everyone nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we're gonna blow this joint."

"That sounds good," said Skipper. "What's the plan?"

"You don't have one?" asked Alex, a bit set back by Skipper's question.

"Look, we've been tracking the killer most of the time," said Skipper, "haven't got a strategy worked out yet. You're running this show, you tell me. Let's brainstorm."

"Alex has a plan," piped in Marty.

"I do?" replied Alex, lost.

"Alex is being modest," announced the zebra. "He's actually got something already worked out. Mind if I tell them about the tower?"

"Oh, that," said Alex. "Well, yeah, go ahead, you know I really don't have-"

"There goes his modesty again," said Marty, who then went on to explain the principle of Alex's lighthouse plan, which was to signal search ships and lure them to the island. Once there, they would find the lost cargo ship, where the animals would be waiting, and take them off the island. Marty kept calling it a tower, though, which irked the heck out of the lion. "Lighthouse, Marty," corrected Alex. "It's a lighthouse!" Everyone listened intently, nodding in agreement that it was indeed a very plausible plan of escape.

"Hmm, not bad," said Skipper. "But, guess we'll have to trust the humans then. Not the most comforting thought, as we'll be at their mercy."

"The people will know what to do," said Gloria supportively.

"Very well, then," continued Skipper, "we go with what we've got. We've gotta get this thing built and put into operation pronto, it might take a week of signaling till we get a ship to land here." Alex frowned with anger, remembering his hard work and how it had all collapsed on top of him. Had that not happened, they could be lighting it right now.

"A week?" said Melman in a frightened voice. "A week? How are we gonna stay alive that long?"

"We're all in danger," Skipper announced, "but with some careful maneuvering I believe we can avoid the snow monster until we get picked up."

"So, I'm in charge here, then?" asked Alex.

"That is correct, sir," answered Skipper, saluting the lion. "How would you like to be addressed?"

"Alex will do just fine," he replied. "And by the way, I'm not psychotic. Okay, I officially appoint Marty as first officer and head engineer. He knows the plan, and will complete the design I began. Construction begins tomorrow, too dark to do anything now. Everyone get yourself a good night's sleep- I'm taking first watch tonight."

"Spoken like a true leader," said Skipper. "Sounds like a plan. See you in the morning."

* * *

_Author's note:_

_Whew, finally got this chapter out. Was actually a lot longer and I ended up having to cut out some irrelevant stuff. Got the idea to use Mort in this chapter halfway through, hadn't originally planned to, but found he added some good variety and helped the cause, so there you go, TheDoctor388! If I failed to publicly mention it in notes here before, sincere thanks to all the readers who are enjoying my story! I have made an effort to personally reply to each one who has reviewed it, via the personal message service here on the site. Hope you all have a great spring of 2009!_


	19. The Tower Fortress

It was morning, about 8:00. Marty awoke to the now familiar sounds of seabirds and the surf, flapping his ears, alone in his hammock. He was going to miss this place. He paused for a few moments to take in the peace and quiet, as it was going to be a busy day once everything started. He stretched and rolled out onto the sandy floor, shook himself, and headed out to take a quick stroll along the water's edge. As he walked, he saw an unusual sight up ahead, finally recognizing it as a message written in the sand. It resembled the layout of Melman's Last Will and Testament, but this one was a letter, not a legal document. And, just like the will, the very bottom of this message had been eroded by the ocean waves, making the ending illegible.

"Now what is Melman up to?" said Marty, who sat down to read the giant letter.

**Dear Fans and Friends at the Central Park Zoo,**

**I hope this greeting finds you well. I miss you very much. Interesting place this is, here in the middle of nowhere. The natives call this island Madagascar. It is very beautiful and Marty loves it (you remember the zebra, he is here too), but it is also filled with a lot of danger which has recently gotten a lot worse. Fact is, can't say for sure if we're gonna make it.**

**I had hoped that we would be able to return to New York, but it seems that is not going to be possible. Madagascar is my home now. I hope we survive. I miss you all very much.**

**Wixxxng yxu xxx xxx+x**

**Xakx xxxe, xxvx, xxxxxxxxxxx**

Except for the bottom, the letter was complete. "Sounds like Melman's giving up again," said Marty, shaking his head. "I'm gonna have to talk some sense into that giraffe. Where is he at now, anyway?" Marty looked around, then spotted him over by the edge of the woods, collecting some leaves for breakfast from a high tree.

Marty marched right over to the giraffe and greeted him, engaging him in some conversation first before getting to the point. "Hey, Melman!" he began, fumbling a little with his words. "How's it going?"

"Oh, okay, I guess," answered the giraffe, turning from his leaves. "Okay, for not having professional medical care at my disposal. I don't know. So how are you? Sleep good?"

"Mmm, yeah, I guess," Marty slowly said. "Felt a little lonely, though. Saw you and Gloria together last night, you looked quite cozy."

"It's the buddy system, you know. You could have joined us, Marty."

"Nah, three's a crowd; besides, I was hoping Alex would invite me to buddy-up with him again. But he didn't," said Marty in a disappointed tone. "But, I guess that's good old self-centered Alex."

"Uh, Marty?" said Melman, looking him in the eye. "Alex was up all night keeping watch so we could all sleep safely. I relieved him at a quarter to five this morning."

"Oh... Oh, crap, that's right!" said Marty. "I forgot about that, he did say he was taking first watch. What a stupid thing for me to say. So when did he get to bed?"

"About five o'clock. Listen Marty, I apologized to Alex this morning for the way I acted yesterday, and I'm apologizing to you now. The whole incident about you getting Alex all hyped up yesterday... I'm sorry I was so miserable to be around, I like everything safe and planned out. You guys both shoot from the hip, and when you do that it makes me a nervous wreck. I'm sorry."

"It's cool, Melman, it's cool... no problem, man. No reason for you to give up, though, ya know?"

"Give up? You're losing me, Marty. Anyway, there's something else I have to tell you- when I got up around 4:30 this morning, I found Alex down on the beach, lying face down in the sand, crying. I mean, he was sobbing, dude- bawling his eyes out."

"He was? What was wrong?"

"I didn't ask, I just gave him some privacy before I took over for second watch. But, go down to the beach and have a look yourself."

"I was just down there reading your letter in the sand, Melman. What is this all about?"

"Not my letter, Marty. I didn't write it. Didn't you see Alex's signature at the bottom?"

"What? No. The waves wiped out the- so Alex wrote it? That doesn't make any sense... I mean, going back home is all Alex has thought about since we arrived here... and now while we're launching a plan to do just that, he's giving up? He's supposed to be leading us out of here. It doesn't make sense!"

"No Marty, it doesn't."

"Melman, I'm worried about him. After all he's been through the last couple of days... this is so radical for him to- oh my God, I hope he doesn't do anything drastic like run away again and hurt himself... or something worse. Get Gloria, we better start looking for him right away!"

"Marty, calm down. Heh, heh- listen to me saying that to you... usually it's the other way around! Alex is right over there in the cabana, sleeping like a lion cub! See?"

"Oh, right. I'm getting all freaked out over... no, this still makes no sense. I'm gonna have a talk with Alex and get to the bottom of this. I hope he's not going crazy!"

"Okay, Mr. Psychologist, but please wait until the poor guy wakes up, all right? He went to bed around 5am."

* * *

Skipper and the penguins showed up around 9 o'clock. Marty was flustered because nothing was ready, Alex was asleep, and there had been no communication. As the zebra was 2nd in command, this meant he was now in charge, which he hadn't planned on. He grabbed a big mouthful of grass and munched on it hastily, for a quick breakfast on the go.

Skipper stood with his flippers crossed, staring over at the sleeping lion sucking his thumb. "Where's our fearless leader, hmm?" he demanded. "What kind of cut rate outfit are you running here? Our lives are at stake, and this is the kind of lazybones leadership we have to work under?"

Marty ran to Alex's defense, waving his front legs at Skipper and making a "be quiet" gesture to his lips. "Guys," he said quietly, "Alex was up all night on patrol. I'm temporarily in charge. Uh... here, let me show you the tower- I mean, lighthouse- plans I have in mind awhile."

Alex remained undisturbed at the far end of the cabana, and Marty got out his planning materials and began quietly running through some of his improved, strengthened construction details for the signalling lighthouse. After some technical discussion, Skipper was satisfied that there was a plan in motion. Marty seemed confident that construction could begin in the afternoon. Alex would not only be needed for the heavy lifting, but especially also to show them the way to the site, as its location was known only to him. Marty wasn't about to get lost up there again.

Skipper and the penguins then left for the time being, planning to reconvene at 11 o'clock, in hopes that Alex would be up by then. _"He better be up,"_ grumbled Marty, a little agitated from being raked over the coals by Skipper. Another walk by the ocean is what he needed to calm down, so that is just what he did. He also wanted to check out that message in the sand again, if it was still there, to try and read in between the lines.

* * *

At a quarter past 10, Marty returned to find Alex sitting up in his bed, and marched right over to him. "Alex," said Marty firmly, "we gotta talk. That let-"

"Not now, Marty," moaned Alex with his paws on his head. "I've got a lot on my mind, and I've got a freakin' headache. Sorry, it's gonna have to wait."

"Alex, you've got some explaining to do. I just had a meeting with the penguins, and-"

"I said no!" Alex snapped. "I just woke up. Not freaking now, comprehendo?"

Marty angrily turned around and trotted away without answering, heading out of the cabana. He looped the immediate area of the beach, stomping most of the way, which to his surprise was hurting his joints much less than the previous day- that was a good sign. Gloria was down in the water at the edge of the beach, happily dancing about in the waves. He stopped to hang out with Melman again, who had seen him talking to Alex. "So, how did it go?" asked the giraffe.

"Man, oh man, Melman, the PMS is back!" answered Marty.

"I told you to wait until he wakes up," said Melman, "and I meant all the way up. He's probably majorly stressed out now in addition to his wacked out sleep schedule; just hang in there and give the poor guy some grace. You were probably in a demanding tone, I'll bet, weren't you?"

Marty paused for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I did barge into his face pretty strong."

"I think it's best if we don't agitate him," advised Melman. "Let's give him lots of support, like you suggested yesterday. If later on he keeps acting like this, maybe we can get Gloria to talk some sense into him for us, and butter up his behavior. She's more tactful at stuff like that."

"Are you kidding?" said Marty. "Gloria has no tact whatsoever- she'll go right in and kick his butt!"

"Exactly," said Melman with a smile.

Marty momentarily smirked but then went back to his frown. "Yeah, I guess," he replied. "Hey, thanks for listening, Melman. Skipper's coming back at 11 o'clock and things are gonna start happenin', so if you'll excuse me, I've got to make sure everything's in order."

Marty slowly walked back to the cabana, intending to avoid and ignore Alex for the time being. He entered, noticing Alex was now sitting on the sand couch, busy washing himself.

"Hey, Marty," Alex began gently. "Sorry I was so short with you back there, I just- I just needed a few minutes to myself. Didn't mean to bite your head off."

"Hmm, yeah," muttered the zebra somewhat coldly, preoccupied with a number of things on his mind. Marty looked over and noticed his kitchenware scattered all over the floor behind the bar counter. "What the-" he exclaimed, going over to go inspect the array of disorder. "Alex... you didn't make this mess here, did you?" he asked. "What the heck happened here?"

"Oh, I was looking for that one leftover fish I didn't finish last night.

"I put it in the cold water storage tank!" said Marty.

"I know, I finally found it," said Alex. "Forgot to thank Skipper at the meeting, shoulda' asked him for another round. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

"Aww, man, you trashed the place!" complained Marty, too preoccupied to mentally register the lion's last comment. Marty bent down on his front legs to retrieve some cups that had rolled under the counter cabinet, with his rear end sticking out up high in the air.

"Know what I'd love to-" began Alex, then stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the zebra's brazen position. It was too tempting a sight for Alex to resist, so he ran up from behind and whacked him hard on the butt with a paw.

Marty bolted upright, banging his head against the underside of the countertop, knocking more stuff down, and dropping the cups he had gathered. Alex laughed so hard he had to squeeze his legs together. Marty was furious, and began bucking with angry yelps, finally firing a double-hooved back kick in Alex's direction. But Alex swept away the zebra's back legs with a Wing Chun block, then launched in toward Marty's head, grabbing him around the neck and bringing him down onto the ground, pinning him there. "God-dammit Alex, what's your freakin' problem??" yelled Marty, thrashing about wildly.

Still laughing, Alex held him down for a minute until the thrashing diminished some, then whispered something in the zebra's ear. Marty stopped struggling, his eyes widened, and his angry expression changed into one of shock. Alex let him go and backed away. The zebra got up, promptly spun his rear end out of view, and looked at Alex wide-eyed in disbelief. "Uhh...w-wh-" he replied, stuttering like porky pig. "Say what?"

"I said I like your butt," Alex blatantly repeated with a smile, winking at him. "You have a really nice butt, Marty."

"Uh, Alex, are you feeling okay?" Marty asked in a frightened voice, unsure of the lion's intentions.

"Oh, Marty, I feel great," replied Alex with a huge smile on his face.

The 'nice butt' comment was quite disturbing to the zebra, as his imagination raced wondering what on earth the lion might have in mind. The last time the zebra's butt had looked good to him, he had sunk his teeth into it. Marty envisioned himself lying on a dinner table with his striped butt on a plate, next to a bottle of A-1 steak sauce. He began backing away from Alex, until he backed into the wall. The look of sudden terror on his face was quite apparent, and did not go unnoticed.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Marty," said Alex, backing away from his friend and holding out his paws in surrender. "It was a complement. I didn't mean- I didn't mean to getcha all excited there, buddy."

"Alex... wh-what are you gonna do to me?" the zebra asked, cringing.

"Nothing, just calm down," Alex said, motioning his paws downward. "Let me explain, okay?" Marty swallowed and silently nodded, trying hard to trust his carnivorous friend.

"Marty, I'm not going to hurt you. Listen, I know you've forgiven me for everything, and I accept that, but I have to tell you, to clear something up- that 'fat ass' remark I made to you the other day during that argument- well, it isn't true. I was just trying to be mean. It was way out of line for me to say that. I was so mad and I just said that to hurt you, but it's not true. I'm sorry. I want you to know that you have a really nice looking butt...seriously... in fact, it's to be envied."

"Aww... thanks, Alex," said the zebra, whose heartbeat was still racing, but breathing a sigh of relief and feeling a little silly for the way he had reacted. "Sorry I kinda freaked out, I'm still a little on the jittery side. That was really nice of you to say that... like I said the other day, all is forgiven. But hey, what's all this stuff about envy? You've got a really nice, tight butt down there yourself!"

"Yeah, I know," said Alex, turning and walking away to head for the bathroom, deliberately swinging his hips with an exaggerated sway like he didn't care.

"Why, you arrogant little-" muttered Marty to himself, but then stopped short of completing his sentence. "Hey hey, wait a minute... that sounds like the old Alex! Yeah! I think our Alex is back!"

Marty was so shaken up he completely forgot about the letter in the sand, or to ask Alex about it. He walked out of the cabana and headed over to see what Melman and Gloria were up to. Their seemingly carefree morning was going to turn into a very busy afternoon.

* * *

The penguins were right on time at 11 o'clock. Shortly thereafter, the meeting began without Alex- he had never come back since walking away from the cabana earlier, and no one knew where he was at. Marty never got to tell him about the meeting at 11, so no guarantee he was even going to show. This of course put more pressure on Marty, and so he began going through the beginning plan of framing the lighthouse with Melman, Gloria, and the four penguins. He hadn't gotten very far when Skipper noticed some movement, and spotted Alex approaching the cabana.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," said Skipper with his flippers folded. "Nice day for a liesurely walk, isn't it? Care to join our little meeting? You're only in charge, that's all. No big deal, just planning how to save our sorry lives by getting off this island!! You psychotic lion!"

Alex looked very serious and addressed the group, taking his role as leader. "Guys," he said, "we've got to talk before we barge into starting all this. I've been thinking a lot about this whole thing and I may need to change our direction."

Skipper looked rather irritated that Alex was flip-flopping with plans at the last minute, as the clock of their very survival was ticking. But he begrudgingly listened to what the lion had to say.

"Skipper, I need some tactical information," said Alex. "Your team knows more about this creature than anyone else here. In fact, the rest of us know almost nothing, except that he is a killer. What I'd like to know before we get started with whatever we plan to do- and just asking, mind you- is it possible to fight this thing?"

"Tactical here," replied Skipper. "Now by fight, you mean, as in take him down, take him out?"

"Yeah, that's what I want to know."

"Well, we can't really say without a lot of analysis of the surveillance data we've collected. Your current plan is a defensive operation, not an offensive one. Off the cuff, I'd say we don't stand much of a chance if we have an engagement. Why, may I ask, are you inquiring about this now? I mean, this is a good question, but it's delaying our goal of getting the lighthouse into operation."

"Alright, here's my thoughts. We get the lighthouse into operation by tomorrow night, if we're lucky. And, say a ship comes by fairly soon and finds us, and we're rescued- by the people, I might add. And God knows what they'll decide to do with us."

"The people will know what to do," said Gloria, with Melman nodding in agreement.

"That's debatable," said Alex, "but let's suppose the best and they take us back to New York. Yay! Goody for us. Now we're safe, and we're off this God-forsaken island, and no more worrying about getting killed in our sleep."

"Bravo," said Skipper, clapping his flippers together. "You've gone back to where we were last night and rehashed the same plan all over again. Now we've lost valuable time."

"I'm not finished yet," said Alex. "That's not the point. Say we get rescued and we're all safe. Goody for us. What about Julien and all his people? They sure as hell aren't going to be coming along with us. We leave here, and the monster stays here, and we screw Julien over big time. Not that he and I are on the friendliest of terms... but it just doesn't seem right to me to do that."

Except for Skipper, everyone was speechless. "Well, what course of action do you propose, then?" he asked.

"I can't give specifics yet," replied Alex, "for that I need everyone's help and suggestions. But we can't just leave Julien's colony behind to be wiped out by the monster. No doubt that's what will happen."

"Well, for being psychotic, you're certainly observant," announced Skipper, increasing his volume to address everyone at the meeting. "Alex has accurately assessed the situation. The snow monster will continue his ravaging, and his presence will threaten the continued existence of all wildlife on this island. But, as an f.y.i., this climate is far too warm to sustain the snow monster indefinitely, so the problem may eventually be self-purging."

"Self-purging?" asked Melman. "What, you mean he'll eventually die from the heat? How long will that take?"

"Don't know," answsered Skipper. "Could be weeks, months,... or even years. But he'll do plenty of damage before he drops dead, whenever that happens."

"This whole thing is so depressing," moaned Melman. "So depressing." Gloria wanted to say something to encourage the distraught giraffe, but was having a tough time of it herself, so remained speechless. Marty was very curious where all of this was going and listened attentively.

Skipper looked back to Alex. "We need to take a course of action as soon as possible," he said. "As I asked you at the meeting last night, I ask you again, what do you want to do?"

Alex paced back and forth a few times, then stopped, turning back to face everyone with clenched fists and an angry expression on his face. "I want to fight!" he said emphatically. "This is a bad situation, but somehow, we gotta stay and defend this island from this snow bastard. I'm sorry guys, but that's my decision. I don't think I could live with myself if we turned tail and ran."

"But it's not your fault!" yelled Melman, who was now all hyped up, and did not like the way things seemed to be heading. "Running away isn't a bad thing," he said. "It's a legitimate defense against overwhelming odds. I say we get out of here."

"If you're looking to place blame," said Skipper, "I guess you can blame us for this. As we've told you, the monster is here because we traveled to the antarctic region, and brought him back here unintentionally on the ship. Still don't know exactly how that happened, but it did, and regardless of our ignorance, we are to blame. That is one of the reasons why I want someone else in charge of this operation, making the final decisions. We need to be able to live with ourselves as well. So, we're trashing the lighthouse plan then?"

"I say we focus our attention on taking this bastard out," said Alex, smacking his right fist into his left palm. "We get organized, we fight, and we win, game over. I'm going to fight. Now who's with me?"

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Then Skipper and the penguins stood up in support of Alex, followed by Marty, and a reluctant Gloria. Melman just sat there with his hooves on his head, shaking it in disappointment.

"Kaboom!" said Rico, throwing his flippers up in the air, and holding a stick of dynamite, much to everyone's surprise. "Kaboom!" he repeated.

"Where did he get that?" asked Gloria. Marty shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's it, blow his head off!" spouted Melman sarcastically, much to everyone's surprise.

"Well, that's a possibility, but we'd have to get dangerously close to do the job," replied Skipper. And if it didn't kill him... it'd be a one way mission. We'd almost have to get it inside him somehow to be effective. Don't know about that Rico. Good suggestion, though, I'll keep it in mind."

"I don't like all this war talk," said Melman. "I don't, I don't. Look, I don't like this monster any more than the rest of you, but this whole thing is sounding awfully dangerous to me. I don't feel safe at all anymore. It's a wonder I even got to sleep last night."

"Which brings up another point," responded Skipper. "You know, this is a nice little cabana here, but it's wide open, and you're all going to be like sitting ducks if you continue to stay and sleep here. You're going to have to move camp to a more secure location, asap."

"Maybe we could move to the boat," suggested Melman. Gloria nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good to me," said Alex. "Let's do it."

"The boat is a good suggestion," said Skipper, "but it's got one flaw. The creature has been aboard this ship somehow, that's how he arrived here. We never saw him come or go from the ship, but he has, and for that reason, I don't feel it is a safe place to conduct our operations."

"Great," said Melman. "We're doomed."

"You know," said Marty, finally speaking up, "I've been thinking about the original lighthouse plan we were going to start up on the mountain this afternoon. What if we alter the design into a sort of tree-house mounted atop the tower, instead of the lighthouse? We can still begin building today, but we're gonna need everyone's help, and it's gonna take longer than the lighthouse project. I think-"

"Yes," said Skipper, interrupting the zebra's sentence. "This sounds good. One, this new location will put a good bit of distance between us and the monster's current whereabouts. That will give us more time to get a workable plan together. Two, we'd be up high, so we'd have good visibility. But this thing can't be flimsy, it's gotta have some strength to it, to withstand bad weather... or God forbid, a direct attack by the monster."

"Remember, my original attempt collapsed, Marty," said Alex. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Oh, it'll be strong, don't you worry," assured Marty. "I've got all kinds of ideas I want to try out on this thing. Gonna need those muscles of yours to build it though, buddy boy."

"I like it, Stripes," said Skipper. "Sounds like a plan in the works. It'll be a fortress in the sky, a refuge that doubles as a lookout tower."

"The tower fortress," said Marty proudly. "That's what I'm going to call it."

"Well?" said Skipper, waiting to see what the lion's decision would be on all of this.

"Uh, sounds good guys," said Alex. "Marty's the engineer. Okay, let's do it. Let's get some lunch, then we'll gather up some of our things and hike up the mountain to the site, and get started on building this tower fortress. Rico, please be careful with those explosives. And Skipper?"

"Hmm?"

"Just to remind you, I'm in charge here now, and I'm dealing with the headaches of running this outfit. I'll have respect in the ranks here. I'll tolerate constructive criticism, but there'll be no more 'psychotic lion' insults directed my way, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" replied Skipper, standing at attention along with the other penguins, saluting the lion.

"Very good," replied Alex. "Okay, meeting adjourned! Let's get some lunch."

It went without saying that Marty was thrilled with the new decision to stay, but he was confused by this unexpected change of heart. As everyone slowly scattered about, Marty pulled Alex aside to privately question him about the radical change in the lion's plans.

"Marty, please don't harass me about this," whined Alex. "It was a really difficult decision for me to make, okay?"

"Hey man, I know it was, I'm not gonna harrass ya 'bout it," said the zebra. "It's just that, well, that letter you wrote in the sand, and... well, you know... going home is all you've thought about since we got here... and now, you just traded in a chance to get outta this place?? I know you don't like it here. This is so... unexpected."

"Well, for one," began Alex, "I wasn't comfortable with the lighthouse plan, for several reasons that I'm not going to go into right now, so I scrapped it. Two, my desire to get back home at any cost was driving me insane, and was beginning to hurt others around me. You saw that. So as for the letter I wrote, let's just say I got rid of an obsession, and leave it at that. If and when we leave here, we'll do it our way, somehow, without the people. I don't trust them anymore, Marty. But first, we've gotta rid the island of this dirtbag killer. Hopefully, he'll be the first to go."

"Hmm, wow, Alex," replied Marty. "I uh, don't know what to say."

"Ha, looks like it's gonna be a tower after all," said Alex, "just like you've called it all along. Marty, just want to admit to you that I am still very jealous of your ability to design and build things. Trying to put that behind me now, though. Don't let me intimidate you with this tower fortress thing, okay? Do your best, don't try to impress me or anyone else, but make it functional, and make it strong. Tell me what you need, and I'll make it happen."

"Yo, man, Dr. Marty, Architectural Engineer Ph.D. is in the house. This tower fortress is gonna be crack-a-lackin'! You'll see!"

* * *

_Author's Note:  
_

_I can't believe it, finally got chapter 19 done and uploaded! Geez. Was hoping to get this chapter finished by the end of June, but got busy preparing for Anthrocon 2009, which I attended in July- had a super great time there!! What a vacation, best time I've had in a long time. Rest of the summer was busy with regular stuff plus trips, taking it easy, etc., so I didn't get any writing done. It'd be great if I could get myself back on the monthly update cycle... don't know, so little time available for this as of late. We shall see._


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